Ben Ali, wife given 35-year jail sentences

Agencies/Tunis

A man holds a poster depicting Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in front of the courthouse in Tunis where the trial in absentia of the former Tunisian president and his wife got under way yesterday

Toppled Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife were sentenced in absentia yesterday to 35 years in prison each in a trial for misappropriating public funds, a judge said. Judge Touhami Hafi also fined the exiled ex-leader 50mn dinars ($36.2mn) and his wife Leila Trabelsi 41mn dinars on the first day of the trial. He postponed a trial in a second case until June 30 to allow Ben Ali’s lawyers more time to prepare their defence. Ben Ali and Trabelsi were charged with embezzlement after the discovery of money and jewellery in their palace in the outskirts of Tunis. The second case, targeting Ben Ali only, involves weapons and drugs allegedly found in a presidential residence in Carthage. Ben Ali denied all the charges in advance of the trial through his lawyer Akram Azoury.The former president, his wife and their two children fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia in January at the climax of the first of the Arab uprisings. Despite his absence from the trial, Ben Ali marked the trial’s opening with a statement in which he denied that he had intended to go into exile and condemned political developments in Tunisia since the end of his 23-year rule. “I did not abandon my post as president nor did I flee Tunisia, as some media have falsely reported... I was duped into leaving Tunis,” read a statement released by Beirut-based attorney Azoury. Protests both in support and condemning the trial could be heard within the courtroom.“What are they putting on trial? Air? This makes no sense,” said Mohamed Salah Zaalouni, a waiter. Yesterday’s trial was only the start of a long process that may see top members of Ben Ali’s regime in the dock over allegations including murder, torture, money laundering and trafficking of archaeological artefacts. Of the 93 charges Ben Ali and his inner circle face, 35 will be referred to the military court, according to the justice ministry spokesman. A murder or torture conviction carries the death penalty, though Ben Ali is not expected to face these charges. Military justice system chief, Colonel Major Marwane Bouguerra, said former interior minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem may find himself named in cases linked to the 300 civilian deaths in protests between December 17 and January 14. In yesterday’s statement, Ben Ali said he had been advised by his security chief Ali al-Soryati to leave Tunisia on January 14 because of fears of an assassination plot. He said he had bundled his family onto a plane which took them to Saudi Arabia and had explicitly instructed the pilot to wait for him at Jeddah airport. “But after arriving in Jeddah the plane turned around and headed back to Tunis, disobeying my instructions,” he said. Ben Ali said he considered himself the victim of a plot that needs him as the “absolute evil” so that Tunisians “are prepared for a new political system created behind their backs by extremists.” His version of events is unlikely to elicit sympathy from the majority of Tunisians. They are now enjoying relative freedom after decades when most people would not speak openly for fear of arrest by the secret police. Ben Ali, his wife and members of their family are widely believed to have enriched themselves by embezzling state assets. Before Ben Ali’s ouster, diplomats spoke of Tunisia’s first lady spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on shopping trips abroad, while her relatives acquired yachts and beachside villas and used their influence to muscle in on lucrative businesses. His dramatic departure came less than a month after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor who was complaining of unemployment, unleashed already-simmering popular anger against Ben Ali.