ALGIERS: An Algerian court cleared the way for a presidential pardon of a detained French journalist by rejecting an appeal from prosecutors for a tougher sentence and acknowledging the defendant’s withdrawal of his own appeal, his lawyers said on Wednesday.
The lawyers for Christophe Gleizes, a French sports journalist detained in Algeria since 2024 on terror charges, announced the Court of Cassation’s decision in a statement on Facebook.
“A decisive step has just been taken regarding the legal situation of Mr.Christophe Gleizes,” lawyers Amirouche Bakouri and Emmanuel Daoud said in the joint statement.
The court is Algeria’s highest court of appeal.
The move is seen as opening the way for a pardon by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, with diplomatic relations between Paris and Algiers thawing in recent weeks following nearly two years of friction.
