Tunisia – Bechir Akremi, referred to criminal chamber of court of first instance of Tunis

The tenth indictment chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal has referred Bechir Akremi to the criminal chamber of the Tunis Court of First Instance on charges of “fraud, detention, and use of falsification,” as reported by Habib Torkhani, the official spokesperson for the Tunis Court of Appeal, to TAP on Tuesday.

Bechir Akremi, a dismissed judge, previously acted as the first investigating judge and prosecutor at the Court of First Instance of Tunis. He was responsible for handling the cases of the martyrs Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.

On February 22, the investigating judge of the Court of First Instance of Tunis issued a third arrest warrant against Akremi. This warrant is linked to a case filed by the United Democratic Patriots Party (Al-Watad) and the heirs of martyr Mohamed Brahmi, concerning Akremi’s judicial actions in the assassination case of martyr Chokri Belaid, as stated by his lawyer Hamadi Zaafarani.

The facts of the forgery case, as well as the possession and use of forgery, according to Torkhani, are that the accused, Akremi, lodged complaints against two accused in the case of martyr Belaid, namely Hamza Arfaoui and Saifeddine Arfaoui, “even though he had formerly engaged against them” as part of investigation no. 25963.

Torkhani confirmed that the accused Akremi had dismissed the charges against the accused, because he had reviewed the inquiry mentioned earlier on February 25, 2014. The file was sealed for investigation on December 30, 2013, and he sent it to the indictment chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal on January 10, 2014, an earlier date for the review decision.

The first warrant was issued against Akremi on March 10, 2023 by the investigating judge of the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Center, and the second by the dean of the investigating judges of the court of first instance of Tunis on July 24, 2023. Two cases regarding complaints were filed against Akremi concerning suspected violations when he had previously handled the cases of the two martyrs Belaid and Brahmi, while he was the first investigating judge of the court of first instance of Tunis.