CCPR/C/112/D/2132/2012 2.14 The authors state that all these proceedings have been taken by members of the Kerouane family with no help from a lawyer. In fact, for their own safety, the two lawyers they approached both declined to accept the briefs. 2.15 Despite all the Kerouane family’s efforts since 1994, no effective and thorough investigation has ever been undertaken to shed light on these events, and those responsible have never been prosecuted. 2.16 In addition, the authors maintain that they no longer have the legal right to take judicial proceedings since the promulgation of Ordinance No. 06-01 implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.1 Indeed, it would have been dangerous for them to take such action. Not only did all the remedies attempted by the authors prove ineffective, they are now no longer available. The authors therefore maintain that they are no longer obliged to keep pursuing their efforts at the domestic level in order to ensure that their communication is admissible before the Committee, as doing so would expose them to criminal prosecution. 2.17 The authors ask the Committee to find that domestic remedies have been duly exhausted and that the individual communication is admissible. The complaint 3.1 The authors consider that Adel, Tarek and Mohamed Kerouane are victims of enforced disappearance2 in violation of articles 6 (para. 1), 7, 9, 10 (para. 1), 16 and 23 (para. 1) of the Covenant, read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (para. 3). They also claim a violation by the Algerian State of articles 10 (para. 2) and 24 (para. 1) in respect of Tarek and Mohamed Kerouane. They also maintain that they and their families are themselves victims of violations of articles 7 and 23 (para. 1), read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (para. 3) of the Covenant. 3.2 The authors claim that Adel, Tarek and Mohamed Kerouane are victims of enforced disappearance, since they were arrested by State officials and after their arrest the State party refused to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or to disclose their fate, thereby deliberately removing them from the protection of the law. They point out that the three Kerouane brothers were under the responsibility of the State party when they were arrested and that the State is obliged to guarantee the right to life of persons detained under its authority. The fact that the State party is unable to give precise and consistent information about a person being held in detention appears to show that it has not taken the necessary steps to protect that person during detention and has therefore failed in its duty to guarantee 1 2 6 The authors note that article 45 of the Ordinance provides that “no individual or collective legal proceedings may be brought against members of any branch of the defence and security forces of the Republic for actions undertaken to protect persons and property, safeguard the nation and preserve the institutions of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. Any allegation or complaint shall be declared inadmissible by the competent judicial authority”. Article 46 provides that “anyone who, through his or her spoken or written statements or any other act, uses or exploits the wounds caused by the national tragedy to undermine the institutions of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, weaken the State, impugn the honour of its agents who served it with dignity or tarnish the image of Algeria abroad shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and a fine of 250,000 to 500,000 Algerian dinars”. See also the concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee on the third periodic report of Algeria, adopted on 1 November 2007 (CCPR/C/DZA/CO/3), paras. 7 and 8. The authors refer to the definition of “enforced disappearance” provided in article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the General Assembly’s Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, article 7, paragraph 2 (i), of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the case law of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). GE.14-22477