An Algiers prosecutor accused Zegout of intending to ‘disturb public order and disrupt institutions’ with his self-immolation [Getty/file photo]
Algerian authorities have launched a counterterrorism investigation after a man had set himself on fire, an act investigators suspect was part of coordinated plot with links abroad, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Faouzi Zegout was injured as a result of the self-immolation on 1 June outside the justice ministry to protest a case he was involved in.
A video of the incident in the capital Algiers circulated on social media, showing Zegout saying he had done it “because of a judge… who arbitrarily threatened me with a 10-year prison sentence”.
At an Algiers court on Tuesday, a prosecutor said that five people had been detained in the case, without specifying whether Zegout was one of them.
One of the five has been released under judicial supervision, and the case has been transferred to a counterterrorism division, the court heard.
According to the prosecutor, investigators had found that the act was orchestrated by an “organised criminal group” with suspected ties abroad.
The prosecutor said the group had allegedly plotted the act and assigned roles, including filming and publishing the self-immolation online, to “disturb public order and disrupt institutions”.
The charges include “endangering the lives and physical safety of others” and “publishing and promoting false and malicious news”.
The person who filmed the incident had “communicated with people abroad”, had “multiple bank accounts” and “received money transfers from people”, the prosecutor said, without specifying when the alleged transfers had occurred or who made them.
Zegout has said that he recently appeared in court for launching a fundraiser without official authorisation to help cover medical costs for sick people.
A court in Frenda, his hometown about 340 kilometres (200 miles) west of Algiers, was scheduled to deliver its decision the same day he set himself on fire.
