In a statement released late Thursday, the defense team said Ihsane El Kadi and his lawyers had decided to use his right to remain silent during the trial.
The decision was taken following what they called "legal violations" by the authorities that had left no room for "conditions and guarantees for a fair trial."
El Kadi, director of the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M, was remanded in custody on December 29, four days after being detained.
El Kadi is suspected of "receiving sums of money and privileges from people and organizations inside the country and abroad in exchange for carrying out activities that could harm state security," a court has said.
In early January, his lawyer said his detention had been extended on accusations of illegally collecting funds and acts that could "threaten state security."
Amnesty International, as well as international media figures including Dmitri Muratov, the Russian journalist who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, have denounced his arrest and demanded his release.
Amnesty said in January that charges against El Kadi had been "trumped up state security related offences."
If found guilty, El Kadi could face between five and seven years in prison in line with an article in Algeria's penal code which criminalizes anyone who receives "funds, a grant or otherwise... to carry out act capable of undermining state security."
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, has launched a petition demanding El Kadi's release that has so far been signed by more than 10,000 people.
Algeria ranks 134th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
