Four get death for killing Tunisia politician in ’13
TUNIS: A Tunisian court sentenced four people to death and two to life in prison on Wednesday over the extremists-claimed killing of a secular politician more than a decade ago.
The 2013 murder of then opposition leader Chokri Belaid was claimed at the time by militants loyal to Daesh which would go on to launch a spate of extremist attacks in the country.
His killing dealt a blow to the fledgling democracy established after the overthrow of longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
Belaid, 48, was a fierce critic of Ennahdha party that then dominated national politics.
He was killed on Feb.6, 2013 in his car outside his home.
The court’s judgement came after 11 years of investigations and was announced on national television in the early hours of Wednesday following 15 hours of deliberation.
The four defendants sentenced to death were identified by Tunisian media as Mohamed El Akari, Mohamed El Awadi, Mohamed Amine El Kasmi and Mohamed Abdellaoui.
Nineteen others received sentences ranging from two to 120 years behind bars over charges including “belonging to terrorist groups” and “premeditated murder.”
Five defendants were sentenced to time already served in other cases.
Deputy prosecutor Aymen Chtiba welcomed the sentences, saying “justice has been done.”
Militants loyal to Daesh group also claimed the killing of another left-wing opposition figure, Mohamed Brahmi, six months after Belaid’s assassination.
The killings stirred mass protests and a political crisis in which Ennahdha ceded power to a government of technocrats.
Belaid’s family and their lawyers have over the past decade accused the Ennahdha party and some judges of hindering investigations into the assassination.
They have charged that Ennahdha, when it was the ruling party, was at least lenient towards extremist discourse following the 2011 uprisings.
The victim’s brother, Abdelmadjid Belaid, welcomed the court ruling, saying “it’s something we had been waiting for”.
He spoke to reporters while surrounded by left-wing demonstrators who have gathered weekly in Tunis demanding the truth about the killing.
The brother said it was “a first step set in the right direction” but told reporters he would continue his “fight,” in particular against “the manipulation of the case.”
“These are only some of the perpetrators,” he said, adding that “soon, in another case, there will be others who have a direct relation with Rached Ghannouchi.”
Tunisia still hands down death sentences, particularly in “terrorism” cases, even though a de facto moratorium since 1991 means they are effectively commuted to life terms.