Algeria upholds journalist’s jail term as Macron seeks his release

TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria (MNTV) – An Algerian appeals court has upheld a seven-year prison sentence against French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, deepening tensions between Algiers and Paris and prompting the French presidency to renew calls for his immediate release.

Gleizes, 36, was detained in May 2024 after travelling to Tizi Ouzou in the Kabylie region to report on JS Kabylie, the country’s most decorated football club. 

Authorities say he started “glorifying terrorism” and holding “publications harmful to national interests,” charges linked to his earlier meeting in Paris with Ferhat Mehenni, leader of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie, which Algeria classified as a terrorist group in 2021.

His lawyer, Emmanuel Daoud, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, insisting the journalist’s work had no political intent. 

Reporters Without Borders denounced the verdict as punitive and unjustified, arguing Gleizes “only carried out his profession.”

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the decision and reiterated demands that he be freed without delay. 

Macron, through the Elysée Palace, expressed “deep concern” and vowed to keep pressing Algerian authorities to secure Gleizes’s return. 

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the case as a central issue in ongoing bilateral discussions.

Gleizes’s parents, who had hoped for a suspended sentence, said they were “shocked” by the outcome and recounted a tense, confrontational hearing in which prosecutors portrayed the journalist as an accomplice to extremist activity. The family said they were prevented from speaking with him after the ruling.

He now has eight days to seek further appeal before Algeria’s highest court, though chances of reversal remain uncertain. 

The case has reignited diplomatic friction already heightened by disagreements over Western Sahara and previous expulsions of diplomats.