News: 

15^th February, 2011:  The appeal of Feb.11^th was rejected by the chamber. Following this decision, a request has been deposited at the court of cassation.

Despite this letter from the justice ministry (in french), one can doubt about the so called "independence" of the French justice (at least at the instruction chamber level) and about the success chances of the defence. Indeed, in some so called "signalled" affairs, it seems that the justice department  is consulted prior to any decisions taken by the court (See for instance this paper (in french) from  "Le Monde"   http://libertes.blog.lemonde.fr/2010/11/30/comment-le-pouvoir-intervient-dans-les-affaires-judiciaires/). Another possibility is that despite lack of evidence of any criminal intent, the judges do not dare to take a decision and close the procedure, and let the upper step (here the Court of cassation) decide. In any case, such a long and inefficient procedure against an isolated citizen is very hard to understand and to accept. Lets finally remind that in january 2011, the Swiss court closed the justice procedure against Adlène for lack of any material evidence.

11^th February, 2011: a new appeal was debated by the "instruction chamber", following the decision of the judge of liberties and detention on january 27th to keep Adlène in jail.  

10^th February, 2011: Following our previous letters to the French republic president and to the ministery of justice, we received from the latter a rather long answer wich you will find here. 

8^th February 2011: The appeal of Feb.4^th was rejected by the chamber. Next appeal on Feb.11^th. Following this decision, a request has been deposited at the court of cassation.

4^th February 2011: Today the case of Adlene was debated at the “chamber d’instruction”.    A decision is expected on 8^th February. Another appeal at the “chamber d’instruction” following the JLD decision on january 27th (see below) should be debated on february 11th.

27^th January 2011: The detention authorization has been renewed for 4 months by the Judge of liberties and detention  (JLD) after a pretence at a debate.  The next important date is the 4^th February, when the case will be presented to the “chamber d’instruction”.  Note that each release request proceeds in three stages

1) Presentation to the “Juge des Libertes”.    In general this step rubber stamps the decision of the “Juge d’instruction” and is an independent stage in theory only.

2) If the detention period is prolonged, presentation to the “chambre d’instruction” (3 Judges).    The lawyer must provide a legal argument consisting of a dozen pages and the court returns a decision (up until now consistently negative).

3) In case the request is again turned down, there is the opportunity to appeal to the French Supreme Court (“Cour de Cassation”).    Up until now Adlene has not resorted to this option, because a new lawyer is required which implies considerable expense.    However, as Adlene has no income, he is entitled to 1 instance of legal aid and therefore could automatically proceed to this step in case of his appeals being turned down.

- The procedure of 27^th January is the 1^st step of the Nth request (I think that N=12) and is the legally required step which forms part of the 4 month renewal of the detention authorization.    Other release requests are regularly lodged by Adlene and his lawyer.

- The procedure of the 4^th of Feburary is the 2^nd step of request N-1

27th January: letter  from the support network to the “Juge d’instruction”

27th January:  Documentary filmed by FR3 forming part of the 12 am regional news segment (Rhone Alpes) at the start of next week.  See also the FR3 Alps website. At the same time a report will be aired on Canal+ (4^th channel) at noon, but the date is not yet known.

The initiatives so far taken by the support network: 

      - Press release  announcing the formation of the network

- An article in Nature to announce the formation of the network and alert the scientific community to Adlene’s situation

- An appeal to join the network in the personnel personnel Bulletin (HELLO)

- A letter letter to the French Physical Society (SFP) and also addressed to the wider community of interested people (english version here). 

- A letter to judge Christophe Teissier, who is charged with the inquiry

      - A letter to president Sarkozy  and to the justice minister. English translation of these two (identical) letters can be found HERE thanks to the work of Paula Collins. (NEW)

      These letters have been copied to the judge and lawyer, and in addition to the presidents of the various French  parliamentary groups to alert them to the prolonged detention of a person without charge and without material evidence. 

• Reply of the president dated december 29  2010 English translation  can be found HERE (NEW)
• Reply of the justice ministry dated january 7 2011
• Reply of the French National Assembly pdt Mr B.Accoyer dated january 10th 2011
• Reply of the socialist group pdt dated january 20th 2011 (only answer of parliamentary groups so far

      - Moral support to Adlene in the form of visits to Fresnes or personal letters

The principal objective of the support network are to denounce an unjustified detention, to request the released of Adlene to allow him to recover physically and mentally from his ordeal, and to defend himself in the eventuality of a trail.  Conforming to Adlene’s wishes, the support network wishes to keep discussions with the press based around the fundamental concepts and not focusing on individuals.   The support network denounces unfounded and unproven allegations against Adlene.