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The 2011 rebellion led to turmoil following the assassination of a leftist opposition chief and the ouster of President Ben Ali.
A Tunisian courtroom has sentenced 4 folks to dying and two to life in jail for his or her roles within the assassination of opposition chief Chokri Belaid 11 years in the past.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Division confirmed the sentence on Wednesday. A complete of 23 folks have been charged in reference to the homicide, with the opposite defendants sentenced to phrases starting from two to 120 years, whereas 5 have been acquitted.
Dozens of Bellaid's supporters had gathered close to the courtroom in Tunis since Tuesday night time and have been shouting slogans demanding justice.
They raised slogans equivalent to “Chhokri is all the time alive” and “We’re loyal to the blood of the martyrs”.
On February 6, 2013, Bellaid was shot useless in his automotive exterior his dwelling. The Secretary Normal of the Democratic Patriots Celebration was a fierce critic of the then-ruling Islamist occasion Ennahdha, claiming that it had turned a blind eye to the violence dedicated by extremists. In opposition to secularists.
His funeral was one of many largest public outbursts of mourning in Tunisia's historical past, with an estimated a million folks taking to the streets, resulting in mass protests.
The assassination sparked one of many largest political crises Tunisia has skilled for the reason that 2011 rebellion that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from energy, elevating doubts over the independence of the nation's judiciary and safety forces. Was born.
Months later, a second opposition chief, pan-Arab leftist Mohammed Brahimi, was shot below related circumstances, ensuing within the authorities stepping down because of political stress.
Authorities blamed the killings on Ansar al-Sharia, a Salafist group suspected of getting hyperlinks to al-Qaeda, which was designated a terrorist group in August 2013.
Belaid's household and secular politicians accused Ennahda occasion leaders of being behind the assassination when he headed the federal government.
Ennahda has strongly denied any connection to the assassination. “The main points concluded by judicial circles clearly present proof of Ennahda's innocence,” it stated in a press release on Wednesday.
It stated the decision ought to restore the dignity of these subjected to false political costs, significantly Ennahda's chief, Rached Ghannouchi, who was not too long ago sentenced to a few years in jail amid a authorities crackdown on the opposition. .