Former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali will become the first overturned despot of the Arab uprisings to be tried when a hearing begins on Monday, but he and loathed wife Leila Trabelsi will be tried in absentia after taking refuge in Saudi Arabia, which has not responded to extradition requests.
The first charges against the former presidential couple are of theft and withholding public funds after US$27 million in cash and an array of jewelry was discovered at the presidential palace in Sidi Bou Said when the couple fled.
LUXURY CAVE
The money and jewels, including diamonds and other precious stones, were hidden behind a false bookcase, dubbed “Ben Ali Baba’s cave” in the media. The ousted president also faces charges over weapons and drugs — believed to be 2kg of hashish — found at presidential palaces.
Ben Ali could later face a further 90 charges as authorities investigate allegations of premeditated murder and torture as well as money laundering and the trafficking of archeological artifacts. The interim prime minister said Ben Ali would be tried by a military tribunal and civilian court.
DOUBTS
Some human rights lawyers criticized the rushed trial, saying they would have preferred Ben Ali to be present and for murder and torture to be tackled first. On the streets of Tunis, many were skeptical, fearing Ben Ali could ultimately escape justice.
Ben Ali’s French lawyer, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, told agencies his client was “tired of being made a sacrificial lamb by lies and injustice.”
He dismissed the charges as a “masquerade” to “mark a symbolic break with the past.”
In February, a family member said Ben Ali was in a coma in a Saudi hospital after a stroke.
“He’s instructing a lawyer. That proves he’s in good health,” said a legal source in Tunis examining other corruption cases against the regime.
Investigations are under way into the extreme wealth amassed by the Ben Ali and Trabelsi clans during the 23-year dictatorship.
They are thought to have siphoned off about one-third of the Tunisian economy through corruption and fraud. Assets have been frozen in 25 countries, but lawyers in Tunisia fear not much money will be returned to state coffers.
More than 30 members of the Ben Ali-Trabelsi family clan were arrested after the revolution trying to flee the country. Extradition requests are out for others who fled abroad.
TELLING IT ALL
The Ben Ali trial comes as a book by the presidential couple’s butler detailed their tumultuous personal life.
Ben Ali is said to have given his wife a black eye and threatened her with a gun. She allegedly consulted shamans and ordered ceremonies such as slitting chameleons’ throats.
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