Convicted of “apology of terrorism” by the Algerian justice system, the French journalist Christophe Gleizes is still imprisoned in Algeria. This Thursday, January 29, his mother Sylvie Godard announced on France info that she had received “reassuring news” from her son, with whom she has no direct contact.
“He keeps his spirits up. He reads a lot. I also know that he writes, but he cannot send us letters. And then also, he maintains himself physically. He exercises twice a week,” says Sylvie Godard, explaining that this news dates from “January 11.”
She was able to obtain these elements thanks to her son’s lawyer and through the archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco. “He visits her regularly and gives her spiritual support. It’s very important for Christophe,” says Sylvie Godard.
Imprisoned since June after being placed under judicial supervision, the journalist shares his cell with a fellow Malian inmate “who is twenty-six years old and with whom he maintains relationships of cronyism and friendship”, continues his mother. He “holds up” thanks to his stoicism: “He takes things with detachment, with perspective. He knows that what he cannot change himself, he must wait for others to change.”
“I still hope to see him again very soon”
Sylvie Godard says she is having a “very difficult time” with the situation: she has not spoken to her son since last August. Present at her appeal trial in December in Algiers, it was “impossible to speak to her”. “We were waiting for the president of the Court of Appeal to authorize us to see him for five minutes, to hug him and that was refused,” she laments.
A contributor to So Foot and Society magazines, Christophe Gleizes was sentenced in early December in Algeria to seven years in prison on appeal. He visited Algeria in May 2024 for an article on the country’s most successful football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (JSK), based in Tizi-Ouzou, 100 km east of Algiers.
Algerian justice convicted him of “apology of terrorism”, accusing him of contacts with people linked to the separatist movement MAK (Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie), classified as terrorist in Algeria.
“Stunned” by the accusation against her son, Sylvie Godard made a request for pardon from the Algerian president. “The president received it, that’s already something. He still hasn’t answered us. It is my dearest wish that he can pronounce a pardon as quickly as possible,” she explains. Especially since grace can “intervene at any time”, assures Christophe Gleize’s mother. “I remain hopeful that I will see him again very soon.”
An evening of support for Christophe Gleizes will take place this Thursday, January 29 at the Bataclan in Paris. This “will be an opportunity to bring together fellow journalists, sporting figures and voices of culture,” explains RSF, which is organizing it. “Christophe, in his cell, knows about this event and he is very moved by it,” assures Sylvie Godard.
