France – Le Monde, Dec. 21, 2025
As Christophe Gleizes, a reporter for So Press sentenced to seven years in prison, marks six months behind bars, the French Football Federation is spotlighting his case during the round of 64 of the Coupe de France, taking place from December 19 to 21.
During the first televised appeal by the parents of Christophe Gleizes, on July 3, his stepfather, Francis Godard, spoke of hoping for public support from 1998 World Cup champion Zinédine Zidane. “It would be wonderful if he took up this cause,” he said on the set of France 2’s 20 Heures newscast. That boost for the release of the French journalist, detained since late June in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, has yet to materialize.
Nevertheless, the football world has not remained indifferent to the plight of the So Press (So Foot, Society) reporter, who was sentenced on appeal on December 3 to seven years in prison, notably for “advocacy of terrorism.”
The Algerian justice system accused him of entering the country on a tourist visa when his profession required a press visa, but above all, of having communicated with officials from the Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie football club, some of whom are linked to the Mouvement pour l’Autodétermination de la Kabylie (Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie), which Algiers classified as a “terrorist organization” in 2021. Gleizes, who contests these accusations, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on Sunday, December 14. He could abandon this legal route if he were to be granted a presidential pardon.
