Lakhdar Boumediene

Lakhdar Boumediene (Arabic لخضر بومدين ) (* April 27, 1966 in Ain Soltgane, Saida, Algeria ) is a former inmate of the prison camp of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba in which he has apparently been eating seven and a half years innocent. He became known among others by the precedent Boumediene v. Bush in which he was plaintiff. Today he lives with his family in Provence (France).

Background

As an employee of the aid organization Red Crescent Boumediene moved in 1997 from Algeria to Bosnia and Herzegovina and was Director of Humanitarian Aid in Sarajevo and was responsible for orphaned by the war children. In 1998 he participated in the Bosnian citizenship. The U.S. harbored the suspicion that he was planning an attack on the embassy of the United States. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been requested to provide assistance and Boumediene was arrested in October 2001 with five other suspects. Since no evidence of this attack plans templates the suspects were released in January 2002 by the Supreme Court of Justice in Bosnia. Immediately after their release these men, however, were handed over to U.S. pressure to American soldiers and flown to Guantanamo. This group was subsequently referred to as the " Algerian Six".

In the summer of 2003 by the German Military Counterintelligence Service ( MAD) carried out covert investigations. An officer interviewed relatives of the detainees and gave itself as a journalist. The MAD came to the conclusion that it " actually evidence for a possible unjustified arrest and for at least highly dubious deportation " templates. Despite the recommendation of the officer to take further action and protest to the U.S., apparently nothing happened. Instead, the report was deleted in accordance with the Ministry of Defence from the computer system of the Bundeswehr. The Federal Intelligence Service has not received the report by its own account.

Captivity

20 January 2002 Boumediene met one of the first prisoners at Guantanamo one. An indictment was not raised, He was also the reason for the detention is not known. Using his own and, according to his lawyers, he was interrogated more than 100 times, left beaten and not sleep for days. In addition, he had to remain for hours in painful positions. As a protest against the detention Boumediene went on hunger strike, was countered by the force-feeding.

Historical and procedural

Boumediene v. Bush, the method is the third method in which the Supreme Court of the United States has dealt with the rights of so-called unlawful combatants at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba.

After the terrorist attacks in September 2001, a military order was issued by President George W. Bush, after the foreigners indefinitely without bringing an indictment may be taken into custody. The way to ordinary courts should be denied the prisoners.

Still got a habeas corpus petition to the Supreme Court and was heard in the process Rasul v. Bush. The court found that the prisoner must apply to have their detention by a neutral authority, at least have the option. In response to this judgment was established by the Department of Defense military commissions that are to take on this task. By Congress, the law on the treatment of detained persons ( Detainee Treatment Act ) was passed, that the rights of prisoners controls.

In June 2006 it was found in the judgment in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld by the Supreme Court, that Congress has not left by the anti-terrorist legislation, as well as by the Detainee Treatment Act, the President the authority to establish military commissions instead of the ordinary courts. Effectively here the lack of legitimation of the executive has been criticized by the legislature. In response to this ruling was the Military Commissions Act passed a little later in Congress, who formulated the current practice in a law substantially.

Also Boumediene filed an application for habeas corpus ( writ of habeas corpus ). His call for consultation of an ordinary court went through all instances. Since now the Military Commissions Act 2006 it further steps his application was rejected barred by the responsible federal court for lack of jurisdiction. Even the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeals confirmed this assessment. There remained only the way to turn over a petition to the Supreme Court, who accepted by certiorari (wit of certiorari ), a review of the case. In Boumediene v. Bush litigation constitutional aspects were now illuminated. The Supreme Court laid in December 2007 in a landmark decision that:

• The right to habeas corpus ( privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ) is part of the Constitution. With an excursus on the historical development of the concept has been demonstrated that the habeas corpus has become the right of freedom. In the Constitution we find this in the so-called suspension Clause again. The test shall be carried out by a federal court or of an adequate alternative.
• While the U.S. has no sovereignty over Guantanamo, but the habeas corpus law is not rigidly bound to the limits of formal sovereignty. Guantanamo is subject to the exclusive control of the United States, so also here, the Constitution is valid. The wording in the Constitution includes a foreigner with.
• The right to habeas corpus may be suspended in accordance with the Constitution only in case of invasion or rebellion. This condition could not recognize the court.
• Through the Military Commissions Act was intended as a substitute for an examination by a federal court, a military commission. A revision was provided exclusively in the Court of Appeals, which was only allowed to consider whether the legal procedures have been complied with by the Military Commission. This replacement procedure was assessed by the court as insufficient. The more Ausformuliung a method which takes into account the interests of the executive and of the prisoners, was left to the federal courts.

Thus, the Military Commissions Act was undermined and Lakhdar Boumediene was the way to a habeas corpus in federal court ( District Court ) free. Five months later, his case was reviewed by the Federal Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington. After the court hearing, the court ruled that Boumediene and four of the men who were arrested with him, are released immediately because there is no evidence of their guilt was present.

Dismissal

On 15 May 2009 he was released. However, Boumediene could not return to Algeria because he was there regarded as threatened. France agreed to take Lakhdar Boumediene and his fellow Saber Lahmar. He and his family now lives in Provence.