Algerian protester dies from injuries 'after police beating'

A young Algerian protester has died from head injuries that his family and friends believe were caused by a police beating.

Friend and neighbour Lyes Lamara says that protester Yettou Ramzi died and was buried Friday after several days in an Algiers hospital.

The neighbour told The Associated Press that Ramzi was injured during pro-democracy protests on April 10. That protest was the most violent in two months of overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations.

The neighbour says the family believes Ramzi was injured when police hit him on the head with truncheons, and wants an investigation opened.

Algiers police and the hospital where Ramzi was treated refused to comment. Protests and pressure from the army brought down Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in power for over two decades, but demonstrators want deeper change.

Algerian state television reported Saturday that the finance minister and a former prime minister have been summoned for questioning in corruption investigations.

Former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal are expected to appear Sunday before the public prosecutor.

The move comes after the powerful military chief pressed for speedy prosecution of corruption cases. Anger at corruption is one of the drivers of the protest movement.

Meanwhile prosecutors have asked the upper house of parliament to lift the immunity of two lawmakers who are close to Bouteflika, according to a senior member of Bouteflika’s National Liberation Front (FLN) party.

The legislators are suspected of embezzling state goods when they served as government ministers, according to the official.