Editing Lounès Matoub (section)

==Assassination and aftermath==
[[File:Voiture de Lounès Matoub.jpg|thumb|Matoub's car riddled with bullets during his assassination on 25 June 1998]]
On 25 June 1998, at approximately 12:30 pm local time, Matoub's car was stopped at a roadblock while he was driving along a mountainous road in eastern Algeria ([[Kabylia]]). The car was fired upon by masked gunmen, killing Matoub and wounding his wife, Nadia Matoub,  and two sisters-in-law. Within hours, news of Matoub's murder had spread throughout Kabylia and thousands of angry mourners gathered around the hospital where his body was taken. The crowd shouted ''"Pouvoir, Assassin"'' ("Government, Assassins"). A week of violent riots followed his death. Young demonstrators clashed with riot police and attacked government property. On 28 June 1998 tens of thousands of people attended his funeral in front of his house in his native village. He was buried between a fig tree and a cherry tree, opposite the house he was born in. Matoub's family played a scathing parody of the Algerian national anthem, which came from Matoub's final album ''Lettre ouverte aux... '' ("Open letter to..."), released after his death (Gold-Disc). Matoub's assassination occurred a week before a law excluding languages other than Arabic from public life was due to come into effect. Matoub had been an outspoken critic of this law.

On 30 June 1998 the GIA claimed responsibility for the assassination of Matoub.

On the first anniversary of his death, a general strike was observed in the [[Kabyle people|Kabylian]] city of [[Tizi Ouzou|Tizi-Ouzou]] and thousands protested on the streets. Protesters broke into the town's court room and tore down its scales of justice. The BBC reported that many Berber activists blamed the government for Matoub's death and rejected its claim that Islamists were responsible.

Around 20,000 people marched in Tizi-Ouzou to mark the third anniversary of Matoub's assassination.

His family have created a foundation in his name to promote his memory, cast light on the circumstances of his assassination and promote the values he defended. Two streets in France have been named after Matoub, one in [[Grenoble]] and one in [[Lyon]].

On 18 July 2011, two men, Malik Madjnoun and Abdelhakim Chenoui, were convicted of killing Matoub, and sentenced to 12 years in jail. The one-day trial was suspended twice when Matoub's family interrupted to insist the suspects were innocent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/07/18/01003-20110718ARTFIG00509-algerie-le-proces-tronque-des-assassins-de-matoub-lounes.php |title=Algérie - le procès tronqué des assassins de Matoub Lounès |work=Le Figaro |language=French |date=19 July 2011}}</ref> As Madjnoun and Chenoui had been in prison awaiting trial since 1999, they were released in 2012, having served their time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://noticias.terra.com/internacional/argelia-restringe-las-libertades-basicas-de-expresion-reunion-y-asociacion,6108221da0dce310VgnCLD2000000ec6eb0aRCRD.html |title=Argelia restringe las libertades básicas de expresión, reunión y asociación |publisher=Terra |date=22 May 2013 |language=French}}</ref>