June 29, 1992 — President Mohamed Boudiaf is assassinated by one of his bodyguards who is suspected to have links with extremist Islamic groups. There is an increase in violence, and the Armed Islamic Group becomes known for engineering the assassination.
The military-backed government cancels elections that they believe the Islamic Salvation Front has manipulated to win.
1992 to 1995 — Civil war between the Islamic militant group and the military-led Algerian government claims 40,000 lives.
1994 — Defense Minister Liamine Zeroual is chosen by the army to be head of the state. The army presented him as the preferred choice of civil society for president, at a national conference, which was boycotted by the main political parties in Algeria.
November 28, 1996 — A referendum banning political parties based on religion, language and regionalism, is passed. Effectively, this prevents parties representing the minority Berber ethnic group from functioning.
October 23 1997 — Local elections are held and a pro-government party, the National Democratic Rally (RND) wins. The winners are to choose two thirds of the members of the upper house of Parliament. Opposition parties, however, accuse the winning party of vote-rigging and intimidating poll watchers. 15,000 supporters of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) assemble on the streets to protest election fraud.
1998 — President Zeroual announces his decision to end his presidential term early.
April 14, 1999 — Six out of seven presidential candidates withdraw from the electoral race, protesting electoral fraud in the early stages of voting. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the former prime minister and remaining presidential candidate, is supported by generals to contest the presidential elections.
Over the next two days, elections are held with a reported 60 percent voter turnout. Protests break out over the elections. The minister of the Interior, Abdelmalek Sellal, says Bouteflika has received more than 7.4 million votes, 70 percent of the 10.5 million votes cast.
Bouteflika, former Foreign minister, is elected as president.
July 1999 — A Civil Harmony Law is endorsed by a national referendum, requiring supporters and members of armed Islamist groups to surrender to authorities. The law offers immunity from prosecution for people who did not commit killings, bombings and other serious crimes during the civil conflict of the 1990s, and significantly reduces sentences to persons who acknowledge responsibility for those actions.
Nearly 80 percent of Islamic militants lay down their weapons under President Bouteflik's amnesty offer.
2001 — Bouteflika sanctions amendments to Algeria's Penal Code, which prescribes prison terms of up to one year and fines as much as 250,000 Dinars (US$3,200) for defaming the president. Similar prescriptions apply for defaming the Parliament, the courts, as well as the military.
February 25, 2002 — A journalist at the French-language daily El-Watan, Selima Tlemcani, is charged with defaming the army following a complaint filed by the Defense Ministry. The case initiates as a result of an article Tlemcani wrote accusing the military police of financial misconduct.
July 2002 — Adelhai Beliardouh, a reporter for El-Watan, is violently assaulted in his home by thugs sent by a local businessman and head of the local Chamber of Commerce, Saad Garboussi, in the western town of Tebessa. This attack comes in retaliation for Beliardouh's article alleging that Garboussi had previously been arrested because of financial links with Islamist militants. Beliardouh is brought to Garboussi's home where he is questioned by the businessman about the source for his story. Garboussi also threatens to kill Beliardouh's family if similar stories are reported in the future.
In November of this year, Beliardouh dies from a suicide attempt. Colleagues at El-Watan believe his suicide attempt is a result of his distress after the attack by Garboussi.
October 2002 — National Liberation Front (FLN), Prime Minister Ali Benflis's party, wins local elections. The votes are tainted by violence and low voter turnout. Four opposition parties, two of which represent Berbers, boycott the elections.
August 2003 — The state-owned printer orders newspapers El-Khabar, Errai, Le Soir d'Algérie, Le Matin, L'Expression, and Liberté to pay their outstanding debts within 72 hours, or they will not be printed. This decree comes shortly after several private newspapers run articles about top government officials embezzling funds. One of the accused is President Bouteflik's brother.
Editors of the newspapers admit they owe money to the printer, although the payment is not due for months, and yet they agree on paying the money back in installments. The editors also indicate that only prominent newspapers have been targeted, while others that still have outstanding debts to the printer never received the mandate.
November 2003 — Hassan Bouras, a journalist for the private daily Al-Jazairi, is sentenced to two years in prison and prohibited from practicing journalism for five years. Several people sue him on charges of defamation because of his articles about the misconduct of local government officials, including a story about their involvement in a real estate scandal. A few weeks later, an appeals court overturns the sentence and the ban but mandates Bouras to pay as much as 110,000 Dinars (US$1,500) in fines and damages.
June 14, 2004 — Former publisher of the French-language daily Le Matin, Mohamed Benchicou, is released from prison. Human rights groups and journalists believe his conviction was in retaliation for the newspaper's critical reporting on the government. Le Matin asserted that Yazid Zerhouni, the Interior minister, tortured prisoners while he was serving as a military security commander in the 1970s.
Le Matin is forced to close later in 2004 when the state printer demands the newspaper to pay off its outstanding debts right away.
August 25, 2004 — Algeria ratifies the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
April 2005 — Le Matin reporters Abla Cherif and Hassan Zerrouki are sentenced to two months in prison on charges of defamation. The conviction comes in retaliation to an article written in the daily about a businessman from the United Arab Emirates and his involvement in obtaining a license for a company he had interests in.
Youssef Rezzouj, former editor, and reporter Yasmine Ferroukh are also found guilty of defamation based on their 2003 article accusing Chakib Khelil, minister of Energy and Mining, of abusing state funds.
All four journalists are released pending appeal.
February 2006 — Cartoonist Ali Dilem is fined 50,000 Dinars (US$730) and sentenced to one year in prison. These charges are a result of a series of cartoons he drew depicting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika that was printed in Liberte, a French-language daily in 2003. An appeals court later finds him not guilty of the charges. Canal Algerie, Lotfi Shriate, and the director of Thalita TV, Houriya Khateer, show two of the printed cartoons during news broadcasts. All three are dismissed by the state owned channel, Television Algerienne.
The government approves a mandate prohibiting the media and families of victims of the civil war from probing crimes and human rights abuses that took place during the conflict of the 1990s. Between 1993 and 1996, armed groups and assailants murdered 58 journalists. Two more reporters are believed to have been seized by members of the Algerian security forces. The ban prevents the investigation of such incidents.
March 22, 2007 — Rafik Khalifa, owner of the Khalifa Bank, which is the biggest private bank in Algeria, is sentenced to five years in prison on charges of criminal association, corruption, abuse of trust, and forgery. He is alleged to have improperly transferred money worth US$843 million to countries outside of Algeria between 1998 and 2002. He will be tried in absentia since he is in exile in London. An extradition accord signed between Britain and Algeria came too late for Khalifa to be sent back to Algeria.
Exiled former governor of the central bank Adelawahab Keramane is sentenced to 20 years in prison, in absentia, along with five other bank employees.
In 2003, hundreds of millions of dollars had been discovered missing from the Khalifa Bank, which gave rise to this investigation.
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