## Facts

- Fatma Zohra Boucherf (author) filed a communication on her own behalf and on behalf of her son, Riad Boucherf, an Algerian national born in 1974.
- On 25 July 1995, five policemen allegedly arrested Riad in the neighborhood, forced him into a car trunk, and took him to a police station; he had no further contact with the outside world.
- Five days later, police allegedly arrested Riad’s brother, who later reported hearing in detention that Riad was also detained and that both had been tortured.
- The author submitted testimony from a former detainee claiming he was held with Riad and that both were tortured.
- In 1996, a nurse allegedly told the author that Riad had been held at another facility, transferred to a hospital with four broken ribs, and hospitalized for 21 days.
- Other neighborhood detainees later reported torture by the same officer allegedly involved in Riad’s abuse and said they were threatened they would be killed “just as Riad had been.”
- Authorities repeatedly denied knowledge of Riad’s whereabouts and issued a general denial that he had ever been arrested or imprisoned.
- Algeria generally denied the allegations but did not provide specific information accounting for Riad’s fate or indicating a concrete investigation.
- In 2005, counsel sought interim measures regarding proposed “peace and reconciliation” measures, arguing they would block effective remedies for disappearance victims.

## Issues

1. Whether Algeria was responsible under the ICCPR for Riad Boucherf’s unacknowledged arrest, incommunicado detention, disappearance, and presumed death, including violations of Articles 6, 7, 9, 16, and Article 2(3).
2. Whether the prolonged uncertainty and official denials causing severe mental suffering to Riad’s mother violated Article 7, in conjunction with Article 2(3).
3. Whether Algeria could rely on amnesty-type measures or domestic law to avoid investigation, prosecution, and effective remedies for enforced disappearance and related serious violations.

## Decision

- The Human Rights Committee found Algeria violated, with respect to Riad Boucherf: Article 6(1), Article 7, Article 9(1), 9(3), and 9(4), and Article 16, each in conjunction with Article 2(3).
- The Committee found Algeria violated, with respect to Fatma Zohra Boucherf: Article 7, in conjunction with Article 2(3), due to anguish and distress caused by the disappearance and the State’s refusal to provide information or an effective remedy.
- The Committee gave significant weight to the author’s detailed, corroborated allegations because the State did not rebut them with specific evidence or show a genuine investigation.
- The Committee concluded Algeria must: conduct an effective investigation; release Riad if alive or return remains if deceased; prosecute and punish those responsible; provide adequate compensation and other reparation; and prevent recurrence.
- The Committee stated amnesty-type measures could not be invoked to justify non-compliance with ICCPR obligations or to bar access to remedies, including before the Committee.

## Legal Principles

- When a State fails to address detailed allegations with specific evidence, the Committee may credit the author’s account, particularly in disappearance cases involving State control of information.
- Unacknowledged detention and enforced disappearance constitute arbitrary deprivation of liberty (Article 9(1)) and violate the rights to prompt judicial control and habeas-type review (Articles 9(3) and 9(4)).
- Secret detention coupled with refusal to acknowledge custody or disclose fate or whereabouts places a person outside the protection of the law, violating recognition as a person before the law (Article 16).
- Credible evidence of abuse in custody, and the context of incommunicado detention, supports a finding of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (Article 7).
- Where a person was last seen alive in State custody and the State fails to account for them, responsibility may arise for violation of the right to life (Article 6(1)).
- Article 2(3) requires an effective remedy, including a thorough investigation, prosecution and punishment of responsible officials, and adequate reparation.
- Amnesty or similar measures cannot extinguish obligations to investigate and provide remedies for serious ICCPR violations such as enforced disappearance, torture, and unlawful deprivation of life.

## Conclusion

The Committee held Algeria responsible for an enforced disappearance leading to presumed death in custody and for the resulting suffering of the victim’s mother, finding multiple ICCPR violations and requiring investigation, prosecution, reparation, and non-repetition, while rejecting reliance on amnesty-type measures to block accountability or remedies.


Boucherf v. Algeria, Commc’n No. 1196/2003, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/86/D/1196/2003 (Hum. Rts. Comm. 2006)