CCPR/C/128/D/2893/2016 family received a notice from El Harrach Court, dated 28 May 1994, summoning Mourad Bendjael to a hearing on 7 June 1994 for attempted escape.5 On 17 November 1994, Malika Bendjael was summoned by the Bab Jdid gendarmerie brigade as part of an investigation concerning her son. Although she went to the gendarmerie station, the interview was without result and was not followed up on in any way. Malika Bendjael received fresh summonses addressed to Mourad on 23 November 1995 and 25 December 1995. 2.6 In 1999, Malika Bendjael received a statement from the chief of the Bab Jdid gendarmerie indicating that Mourad Bendjael’s file had been transmitted to the prosecutor of the Court of Algiers on 22 May 1999. In 2004, she received a summons from the Bab Jdid gendarmerie, dated 17 November. On 31 August 2006, she requested a certificate of disappearance from the chief of the gendarmerie brigade in accordance with the provisions of the legislation implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. This certificate, dated 20 September 2006, was issued to her by the gendarmerie at Blida. On 29 October 2006, she filed a new complaint with the prosecutor of the Court of Algiers. Following this complaint, she was summoned several times by the gendarmerie in the course of 2006 and 2007. On each occasion, the gendarmes asked her to take steps to obtain compensation under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. The Bendjael family received two further summons for Mourad, dated 25 April 2009 and 2 May 2009. 2.7 At the end of 2011, Mourad Bendjael’s sister discovered her brother’s name in the records of the El Alia cemetery in Algiers. The records stated that Mourad was 19 years old at the time of death, whereas in fact he was 27 years old on the day of his arrest, that he had been shot dead by armed groups in Kouba and that he was buried in a grave set aside for terrorists. She obtained a death certificate from the town hall of Kouba, which stated that his death had been registered by an employee of the Saint Eugène morgue in Algiers. According to the employee in question, Mourad’s body had been taken to the morgue on 7 June 1994 by police from the anti-banditry squad and buried on 15 August 1994 in the El Alia cemetery. 6 2.8 Given the contradictory nature of this information, on 8 April 2013 Malika Bendjael filed a complaint with the prosecutor of Sidi M’Hamed Court, requesting the opening of an investigation. On 3 October 2013, she filed an application for the exhumation of the body with the Court of Algiers. Following this application, she was summoned by the prosecutor of Sidi M’Hamed Court on 3 November 2013, and again on 13 January and 20 February 2014. During the last of these interviews, the prosecutor informed her that he would not proceed with the exhumation request and tried to convince her to initiate the compensation procedure foreseen under the implementing legislation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. On 26 April 2014, she was summoned to the Bab Jdid gendarmerie, where the chief of brigade informed her that he had received a document from the Directorate General of the National Gendarmerie stating that Mourad Bendjael had been found dead among members of an armed group in 2006. Malika Bendjael asked for a copy of this document, but the chief of brigade told her that he could not give it to her. 2.9 Concomitant with her requests to the judicial authorities, Malika Bendjael sought the support of various non-judicial bodies. She sent several letters and submitted a file to the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. 7 On 8 April 2003, she addressed a joint application to the President of the Republic, the Head of Government, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice and, for a second time, the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. On 12 August 2004, she again petitioned the aforementioned authorities, writing to the human rights adviser to the Office of the President of the Republic and once again to the National Advisory 5 6 7 GE.20-14556 The family received a further summons from the Chief Prosecutor of the Court of Algiers, dated 2 May 1995 and addressed to Mourad Bendjael, to attend a hearing on 23 May 1995. Also in 2011, the officer in charge of missing persons cases at the Bab Jdid gendarmerie brigade stated that he could find no information on Mourad Bendjael. The State institution responsible for conducting investigations into disappearance cases brought to its attention. On 19 February 2003, Malika Bendjael received, as the only reply from this institution, a document referring to events involving Mourad Bendjael which had taken place before his disappearance. Consequently, on 20 March 2003 she sent a new letter to the institution, reiterating that her son had disappeared after his arrest by Intelligence and Security Department agents in May 1994. 3