The Swiss prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday that "the prosecutor has charged former Algerian Defense Minister Khaled Nizar with suspicion of committing crimes against humanity during the civil war in Algeria." The statement indicated that the charges are directed at the former defense minister and relate to crimes allegedly committed between 1992 and 1994. The Swiss-based NGO (Trial International) had filed a criminal complaint against Nizar under a law enacted in Switzerland in 2011 that allows prosecution for serious crimes committed anywhere based on the principle of universal jurisdiction.
Reuters was unable to reach Nizar or an attorney residing in Geneva who had previously represented him for comment. Nizar has previously denied allegations of committing any wrongdoing during the war in statements to Algerian media. He was arrested in Geneva in 2011 but was released after two days of hearings and is believed to have returned to Algeria.
Trial International stated that the new indictment means a trial will proceed even if Nizar, now over eighty years old, does not attend. The prosecutor's office noted that its investigations have been "complex" and at one point abandoned the proceedings amidst questions regarding its jurisdiction to assess the alleged war crimes. Trial International remarked that Nizar would be the highest-ranking military official ever prosecuted under universal jurisdiction laws.
This will be one of very few cases of this type heard in Switzerland and the second hearing ever for crimes against humanity, following a case against a warlord in Liberia that concluded this year. Nizar became Minister of Defense in 1990 and was present when the military took power the following year, canceling parliamentary elections won by the Islamic Salvation Front. The violence, known as the "Dirty War," continued until 1999, resulting in the deaths of around 200,000 people, most of them civilians, at the hands of groups the army claimed were Islamic militants.
