The Tunis Court of Appeals has upheld the eight-month prison sentences for Abdelatif Mekki, Nizar Chaari, and a third defendant, on charges of falsifying endorsements during their presidential candidacies. In addition to the jail sentences, the defendants are now barred for life from running for office.
This decision follows an inquiry into fraud involving the collection of signatures required to support their presidential bids. The original ruling, issued by the lower court, convicted the defendants to eight months in prison, and the appeals court has reaffirmed this judgment.
The court furthermore upheld a similar eight-month prison sentence against Mourad Massoudi and Leila Hamami, whose initial judgments had been delivered in absentia. These convictions extend to three members of Nizar Chaari’s electoral campaign team, who had been implicated even though Chaari had withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency.
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