A prominent French sports journalist sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria at the end of June is reportedly in “fighting mood” but feels “isolated”, his parents told AFP after visiting their son earlier this month.
Christophe Gleizes, who is being held in the city of Tizi Ouzou, is being detained against the background of escalating political tensions between Paris and its former North African colony.
Gleizes, a contributor to the French magazine So Foot, was arrested in May 2024 while on a reporting trip. Algerian authorities accused him of having contacts with members of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), which is classified as a terrorist organization by the Algerian government. His family and rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), maintain that the contacts were part of his journalistic work and pre-dated the official designation of the group.
“Even if his morale is high, even if he is in fighting mood, he feels completely cut off from the world, isolated,” his mother, Sylvie Godard, told AFP in an interview at the Paris offices of media rights campaigners Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Francis Godard described his stepson as a “kind of collateral victim of the bad relations between France and Algeria at the moment”.
“We don’t want Christophe’s case to be used to resolve political issues with which Christophe has nothing to do,” said Sylvie Godard.
An appeal has been filed and is expected to be heard in the autumn.
Leave a Reply