The charges stemmed from remarks of incitement and calls to overthrow the government
The Criminal Chamber of the Tunis Court of First Instance has delivered a verdict sentencing Moncef Marzouki, Tunisia's former president, to eight years in prison in absentia.
This announcement came from the court’s spokesperson, Mohamed Zaitouneh, attributing the sentence to allegations of incitement and calls for the overthrow of the government. Marzouki, currently residing in Paris, is accused of violating Article 72 of the Tunisian Penal Code through statements made at a conference abroad. These comments, according to authorities, encouraged a governmental change in Tunisia, inciting citizens towards violence and causing widespread national unrest, including incidents of murder and looting.
Zaitouneh, however, has not disclosed when these contentious statements were made. The severity of the sentence reflects a growing governmental rigidity towards dissent, as indicated by Marzouki’s attorney, Samir Ben Amor, to The Associated Press, highlighting a “hardening of the political line taken by the government against opponents.”
Marzouki served as Tunisia's first democratically elected president from 2011 to 2014 after the Arab Spring protests led autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down and flee the country.
Marzouki has been an outspoken critic of the current president, Kaïs Saied. He has voiced strong opposition to Saied's actions in 2021, which included suspending the parliament, dismissing the government, and Saied unilaterally assuming complete governing powers. Marzouki has condemned these steps as a coup and has actively resisted efforts to amend Tunisia’s constitution to strengthen Saied’s hold on power. Despite facing opposition, Saied has defended his actions as crucial interventions to avert the country's fall into further chaos.
This marks the second instance where Marzouki has received a sentence for comments made during protests and on online platforms, with a previous conviction in December 2021 where he received a four-year sentence for undermining state security.
Marzouki is one of over twenty political adversaries who have faced charges or imprisonment following President Saied's centralization of power in 2021, which involved halting parliamentary activities and amending the nation's constitution. The constitutional amendments proposed by Saied were ratified in a referendum that saw low voter participation in 2021.
