On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot received the mother, stepfather, and brother of journalist Christophe Gleizes, who has been detained in Algeria for five hundred days. A spokesperson for the Quai d'Orsay stated that the minister expressed his support and informed them of the full mobilization of French diplomacy to secure Gleizes' immediate release and return to France. Gleizes, a collaborator for the magazine So Foot, was arrested in May 2024 during a report on the JS Kabylie football club and placed under judicial control. He was imprisoned in June 2025 after being sentenced to seven years for alleged apology of terrorism, a conviction upheld on appeal in early December 2025. His lawyers have criticized the case as 'empty'. [1]
In France, the world of football mobilized to intervene in his favor, though without success. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in collaboration with the City of Paris, organized a charity match scheduled for Wednesday evening to call for Gleizes' liberation. Approximately forty personalities are expected, including former French internationals Robert Pirès and Vikash Dhorasoo, Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, comedian Denis Podalydès, singer Asfar Shamsi, and journalists Hervé Mathoux, Florence Aubenas, Élise Lucet, and Edwy Plenel. [1]
Christophe Gleizes is the only French journalist currently held abroad. His mother, Sylvie Godard, described the duration as a tragic reality: '500 days, it's a figure for most people. But for us, it is a somewhat tragic reality: it is 500 days of confiscated freedom for Christophe, 500 days of waiting for us. Our lives are suspended on a decision we have been awaiting from the start. It is 500 days too many,' she said. [1]
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