France’s justice minister will travel to Algeria next week to discuss judicial cooperation and the case of a detained French journalist, as relations between the two countries begin to improve after months of diplomatic tensions.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin will visit Algeria on Monday with the aim of opening “a new chapter in judicial cooperation,” his office said on Saturday.
The fate of jailed French journalist Christophe Gleizes would also be a “major topic” during the visit, the minister’s office added.
Gleizes, 37, was arrested in May 2024 while reporting on a football club in Algeria’s Kabylia region. He was sentenced last June to seven years in prison on charges of “glorifying terrorism.”
Relations between France and Algeria deteriorated after Paris in 2024 formally backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
However, both countries agreed in February to resume security cooperation during a visit to Algiers by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, signalling the first signs of easing tensions.
Last week, French deputy defence minister Alice Rufo met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, while France’s ambassador returned to Algiers after being recalled nearly a year earlier at the height of the diplomatic dispute.
Gleizes this week received his first consular visit since his detention. His mother said she hoped for “very positive developments on Christophe’s return to France” before the end of the month after he withdrew an appeal before Algeria’s highest court in hopes of securing a presidential pardon.