Dozens of Tunisian lawyers and legal experts have categorically rejected the hefty sentences handed down to opposition figures in the “conspiracy trial” and called for an end to the exceptional measure imposed by President Kais Saied since mid-2021.
A court in Tunis in the early hours of Saturday handed down jail terms of up to 66 years to around 40 defendants, including vocal critics of Saied.
On Tuesday, over fifty professors in the fields of law and political and legal sciences have signed a petition expressing their support for all the defendants, and solidarity with their families following the rulings, which they said, had been “issued without regard for the principles of criminal law, the basic principles of due process, and the conditions of a fair trial”.
The signatories considered the rulings to be closer to a “judicial order than a judicial ruling”.
The experts also condemned the course of the case which violated all the requirements of a fair trial”.
“The judge, the head of the criminal chamber in charge, was appointed in violation of the legal provisions assigning this jurisdiction to the Supreme Judicial Council. He is a biased judge whose independence was challenged, while the request for challenge was ignored” the signatories have said.
They also considered the case to be based on a futile investigation that merely issued a conviction without examining evidence to prove it.
The experts have also condemned the “cruel and inhuman treatment” of prisoners, which violated the minimum standards for the rights of political prisoners recognised under the Nelson Mandela Principles.
READ: Tunisian court issues sentences of 13 to 66 years in ‘conspiracy against state security’ case