Boualem Sansal “is today at the French embassy in Berlin, we hope he will return in the coming days”, says Jean-Noël Barrot

The French-Algerian writer was treated in a hospital in the German capital after receiving a pardon from the Algerian president.

Boualem Sansal hopes to be in Paris on Friday or Saturday. Sunday November 16, he is still in Germany, “at the French embassy in Berlin”, announced on France Inter and franceinfoTV, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot. “We hope to see him return to France in the coming days”. The French-Algerian writer has been hospitalized in the German capital since Wednesday evening, hours after receiving a pardon from the Algerian president at the request of his German counterpart.

“This liberation is the first and most important victory for French and German diplomacy”Jean-Noël Barrot assured, adding that this also happens “a scathing rebuke to supporters of forceful methods, brutality and invective that achieve nothing”without stating whether he meant the former Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau.

“Minimizing the role of France and its diplomacy in this liberation is a very irresponsible act and is an act of disrespect towards diplomats, agents of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, The Minister of Foreign Affairs was angry. Through their dedication and professionalism, they have allowed us this year, since the beginning of 2025, to release about ten of our colleagues who were held hostage or arbitrarily detained abroad. said Jean-Noël Barrot. He called for his dismissal “opinion diplomacy” to choose “impact diplomacy”, which he is “sustain and produce results”.

“In less than ten days, we have released, if I may say so, four of our citizens from detention and this is a very important reason for our satisfaction”said Jean-Noël Barrot. He referred to the release of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris from prison in Iran (November 4), the pardon of writer Boualem Sansal in Algeria last Wednesday, and the release on Saturday evening of Camilo Castro, who had been detained in Venezuela since late June.