No to impunity for human rights crimes

On 12 April 2014, the military court of appeal delivered its verdict, sentencing top security officials under Ben Aly’s regime to prison sentences ranging from 3 to 5 years. In some cases, they were acquitted. Those officials were accused for carrying out the killing and injury of demonstrators during the Tunisian revolution.

The defendants include the former minister of interior, the director general of the presidential guard and other high- ranking security officials.

The verdict surprised public opinion as it is considered to be extremely lenient and it was a shock to victims ’families who had been waiting for 3 years to have justice.

The Committee for the Respect of Liberties and Human Rights in Tunisia:
expresses full solidarity with the families of martyrs who have not obtained justice from military courts, a jurisdiction that has proven to be flawed;

rejects these lenient sentences that undermine the independence of justice, a key issue for democrats and civil society activists;

believes that top Ben Aly’s security officials should be held fully –and fairly- accountable for human rights crimes, and that without any sense of reprisals or revenge;

calls for civil society to stand with the victims’ families to have such cases heard before a civilian court;

Calls, also, for the implementation of  transitional justice measures where accountability is vital in order to avoid the recurrence of the ousted regime human rights violations ,as has  been recommended by human rights organizations and, also, by the UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of non-recurrence, in November 2011.