Boualem Sansal, author: “I am willing to go back to prison or die” | Culture | EUROtoday

The morning of November 16 of the Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal lasted nearly a yr. That day, on the Algiers airport, when he was returning residence, he was arrested, taken to a secret providers barracks and accused of terrorism, espionage and attacking the integrity of the state. He had been saying and writing what he considered Islam, the Algerian regime and their relations for years. But not too long ago the author, probably the most translated and skim within the French language, winner of the Novel Award from the French Academy, had declared to {a magazine} that a part of the Algerian territory was a part of Morocco. It may have been what broke the persistence of the regime. Who is aware of, as a result of the trial was a farce and he was sentenced to 5 years in jail, one in all which he spent in deplorable situations. Two weeks in the past he obtained a pardon, granted on the request of the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But the sentence remains to be legitimate.

Sansal, writer of The Oath of the Barbarians (Alliance) or The German’s Village (The Aleph) has returned to Paris. But he does not have a home. No cash both, their accounts had been frozen and the playing cards blocked. Until his life stabilizes once more, he’s put in within the spectacular mansion of Antoine Gallimard, his editor, who has fought onerous this yr, along with the French authorities and the president, Emmanuel Macron, to have him launched. The drawback is that Sansal grew to become a logo of a chilly warfare between the 2 nations, that are going by way of the worst second of their relations because the independence of Algeria in 1962.

On Wednesday morning, a lot thinner and now with out his well-known ponytail, after having been quantity 4611 for a yr, he obtained EL PAÍS and two different journalists from the Lena group on the Gallimard headquarters. Smile. “Yes, you could say it was a bit of a long morning,” he jokes as he settles into an armchair. That day I used to be nervously ready, trying on the cellphone, for Algeria to launch sports activities reporter Christophe Gleizes, sentenced to seven years in jail for advocating terrorism in the same case. It wasn’t like that.

Ask. The reminiscences will pile up now, however what did he do to final in jail?

Answer. There are two levels. In the primary we’re nonetheless what we had been and we face one thing monstrous. We attempt to beat it. It’s jail, in fact: the confinement, the isolation, the truth that you might be very poorly fed and cared for. In the second, nevertheless, jail wins you. You are not a person, you’re a prisoner, a quantity. And then disgrace seems, one feels humiliated. At first you battle in opposition to the decide: “No, it’s not like that, I didn’t say that.” One remains to be the proprietor of 1’s personal will, of 1’s personal phrases. And then, in a short time, for purely organic causes, we develop into depending on jail. It is she who feeds us, who does every little thing. She is the mom of the prisoners. And one finds a sure consolation. In addition, there are individuals who can develop into mates, routine, tranquility, previous folks. And there, sometimes, I caught myself considering: “I’m dying.” That’s what it means. I not exist as an individual.

P. Was there a second if you misplaced hope?

R. On a sleepless night time. It was darkish. I grew to become conscious that it was over. You must let your self go, I believed. The jail is stronger. He is a monster that does not assume. The guards are automatons. They arrive with their keys, tock, tock, tock. They make gestures, slim, slim. It’s all you hear. It’s horrible. You recuperate some human life when, for instance, you obtain your lawyer—though mine by no means obtained a visa to come back—or your loved ones. My spouse got here each 15 days, half an hour in a parlor, separated by a glass and a phone.

They put handcuffs on me. We went out to an deserted car parking zone and so they put a hood on me earlier than placing me in a automobile. “I was trying to orient myself by sound.”

P. All recorded, in fact.

R. In my case, sure. For the others, no. They put me in a particular sales space, no 1. It was clear as a result of, merely, every little thing was recorded there. You enter like a flock: households, wives, fathers, moms, youngsters. And on the opposite aspect, the prisoners. But if you say one thing you do not like, the sound cuts off.

P. Did you assume one thing like this might occur to you?

R. Yes and no. They take into account me an opponent of the regime, however I’m a easy citizen. And after I write, in my books I inform issues as they’re. Because after I write I do not take into consideration publication; I merely write, I say what I feel. And then, at a sure level, the query arises: ought to we publish or not?

P. Were you not conscious that one thing may occur to you for those who returned to Algeria with what you mentioned in regards to the regime?

R. Well, actually, no. The reality is that I’m nonetheless very infantile in my head. If I’ve one thing to say, I say it. Only later do I notice that I should not have mentioned it, or not that manner.

P. Why do you assume that was?

R. An alternative introduced itself within the midst of the disaster between the 2 governments, a secret, latent disaster. Algeria clearly reproaches France for colonization, for instance. But it’s clear that it’s a pretext. When France determined to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, it was a shock for the Algerian energy. And instantly, Spain did it too; after which, the United Kingdom, the Security Councils. And they took it as a problem.

P. It doesn’t appear to be an amazing technique to regain the belief of different nations.

R. It was not good publicity for Algeria, in fact. I feel they had been overwhelmed by the scenario. They thought that every little thing would stay on the diplomatic stage, that France would intervene somewhat, that there could be negotiations. But in actuality they had been confronted with a really unusual phenomenon. They didn’t count on a mobilization of such magnitude.

P. Were you conscious of being a chunk on the board of the political recreation between France and Algeria?

R. Yes. I used to be detained by the key providers. Arrested by individuals who refused to determine themselves on the airport. They took me underground. A labyrinth of tunnels, of corridors. And then three or 4 guys walked in dressed someplace between an Islamist and a neighborhood thug. They are spies who combine with the inhabitants. They put handcuffs on me. We went out to an deserted car parking zone and so they put a hood on me earlier than placing me in a automobile. I used to be attempting to orient myself by sound. And after 20 or half-hour at excessive pace, whereas the horn sounded, they entered alleys, a steel gate opened and so they made me get out.

P. Where was it?

R. Between, and secret providers headquarters with a biblical title. There, through the civil warfare, Islamists who had been arrested had been tortured after which thrown into mass graves. I spent six days there in filthy situations. They do it to interrupt you, to make you say something. The accusation is ready prematurely. When they resolve to arrest you, it’s already written: espionage first, terrorism second. That already implies the loss of life penalty. Then, an assault in opposition to the safety of the State, issues that already quantity to jail crimes, 20 or 30 years. It is the prisoner who should present proof that he’s responsible. For six days, he at all times responded evasively to each query. And every time I advised them: “If you want me to respond, identify yourself. Who are you? What service?” They got here again one morning: “Wash, get ready.”

P. And what occurred?

R. It was there that I discovered that I used to be accused of espionage and terrorism. I believed he was useless. He was 80 years previous. Then they transferred me to jail. They search you, they strip you bare. You not have a reputation, you not have something. And they provide you a quantity that I wrote on my arm so I do not overlook it: 4611.

P. Did the mobilization attain contained in the jail?

R. Not at first. I used to be in a most safety sector with Islamists and terrorists from Daesh, Chechnya and all theaters of Islamist operations. They had been Algerians who had gone to battle right here and there, and who lastly returned.

P. Didn’t you discuss to the Islamists?

R. No, they’re Islamists. They do not converse a phrase of French, and I converse very unhealthy Arabic. Besides, now we have nothing to say to one another.

P. For a author it may very well be attention-grabbing to know them.

R. I attempted to speak to a few of them, sure, however I do know them nicely anyway for different causes. We spent the day sitting within the patio. But the Islamists do it in entrance of the wall, as if it had been the Wailing Wall, praying all day.

P. Are you going to jot down about your detention, about these months you spent there?

R. I do not like jail literature very a lot. There are many, and likewise many fakes. The subject has been mentioned rather a lot in cinema. And I both inform every little thing, or I do not inform something. And right here I’m lacking components. It has no curiosity. And in addition to, I do not wish to discuss myself. What am I going to inform? Prostate issues, my most cancers?

P. Could I write there?

R. We did not have something to do it with. But what I wanted most was studying. A author is somebody who reads, who reproduces what he has learn. I found this theorem. Read, see, hear. That’s the organic half. Writing is the bogus. What one has learn is written in one other kind. But I did not have books. If you ordered an Islamic work, nevertheless, you had it immediately. You wished a small Quran, a big one, a medium one, they gave it to you.

P. Do you wish to return to Algeria?

R. Yes. The pardon doesn’t annul the conviction. I’m nonetheless a condemned man, doubly so. I can’t get my rights again till the tip of the 5 years. So I’ll return to Algeria. I advised it to everybody: on tv, to Macron, to Jean-Noël Barrot [ministro de Exteriores]. For me it’s a query of rules. They condemned me, okay, they went too far, however nonetheless, they can not forbid me to go. Three days in the past they deactivated the chip of my passport.

P. So how do you propose to get in?

R. With my French passport, however a visa is required. And they will not give it to me. So I’m somewhat caught. But possibly it can go the identical. I’ll in all probability get turned away on the airport or possibly detained.

P. But why take the chance for those who might be arrested?

R. There are issues that can’t be accepted. So I’m prepared for something, even going to jail once more or dying there.