Ghazi Chaouachi

First Case:

Case Details
The Minister of Justice, Leila Jaffel, filed two cases against Chaouachi at the end of 2022, following a radio statement in which he spoke about the fabrication of judicial files against opponents, and a second statement about the resignation of the Prime Minister, Najla Bouden. 

Judicial Authority
Tunis Capital Court of First Instance

Procedures

• December 1, 2023: Chaouachi announced, in a media statement on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the formation of a defense committee for judges and judicial independence, the following: “I was informed by the head of the Tunis Lawyers Branch that I have been referred to the investigating judge because of a complaint filed by the Minister of Justice Leila Jaffel against me for attributing untrue matters to a public official and spreading false news according to Decree 54.”
• April 25, 2023: A hearing session scheduled for Chaouachi was canceled without prior notice after the investigating judge in Office 18 at the Tunis Court of First Instance went on sick leave.
• June 30, 2023: He was heard before the investigating judge at the Tunis Capital Court of First Instance and it was decided to keep Chaouachi on bail. However, Chaouachi did not leave his prison as he was detained in the case of “conspiracy against state security”. He pointed out that he is the first politician to be referred to the investigation according to Decree 54, due to his criticism of the actions of the Minister of Justice.

Second Case: 

Authority
Counter-Terrorism Judicial Pole

Procedures

• February 24, 2023: He was arrested from his home late at night.
• February 25, 2023: The investigating judge in the Counter-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a prison deposit card against him.
• March 10, 2023: He went on a hunger strike with a number of detainees in the conspiracy case, against what they said was a “policy of retaliation” they were subjected to inside the prison.
• 22nd March 2023: The families of a number of detainees, including Chaouachi, submitted a request to the UK Government asking for sanctions to be imposed on Kais Saied (President of the Republic of Tunisia, Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-chief of the Tunisian Armed Forces, 23 October 2019 – present); Ridha Gharsallaoui (Former Acting Interior Minister, 29 July 2021 – 11 October 2021); Taoufik Charfeddine (Interior Minister, 11 October 2021 – 18 March 2023); Kamel Feki (Interior Minister, 18 March – present); Leïla Jaffel (Justice Minister, 11 October 2021 – present); and Imed Memmich (Minister of National Defense, 11 October 2021 –  present). The sanctions request was made on behalf of: Noureddine Bhiri, Judge Bechir Akremi, Said Ferjani MP, Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Chaima Issa, Ridha Belhaj, Rached Ghannouchi, and the deceased opposition party member Ridha Bouzayene.
• 26th April 2023: An application for sanctions was filed at the EU.
• May 25th 2023: CASE FILING AT AFRICAN COURT OF HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS
  A statement by the families stated that “Tunisia is one of only six African countries that have fully signed up to the African Court. This means that individuals from Tunisia can make direct applications to the court. The African court has jurisdiction to deal with all cases and disputes submitted to it involving allegations of human rights abuses… The application asked for urgent provisional measures to be granted ordering the immediate release of the detainees, and for the Tunisian Government to provide the detainees with medical care and full access to their legal teams. For the deceased individual, the application asked for a ruling that there is an investigation into his death and that all the evidence is preserved. Decisions by the court are binding.”
• The African Court filing was made on behalf of the family members of political prisoners Noureddine Bhiri, Bechir Akremi; lSaid Ferjani, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj, Chaima Issa, Issam Chebbi and Rached Ghannouchi as well as the family of Ridha Bouzayene, who was killed at the hands of the police after his arrest during a demonstration in January 2022.
• July 13, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to reject the defense’s request regarding the release of Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Issam Chebbi, Mohamed Khayam Al-Turki, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ridha Belhaj and Ghazi Chaouachi.
• August 22, 2023: The investigating judge in the anti-terrorism judicial pole in Tunisia decided to extend the imprisonment of 6 opposition detainees for another 4 months, pending investigation into the case of conspiracy against state security, including Chaouachi. The defense team for the defendants said that it appealed the investigating judge’s decision to the indictment chamber, which will consider it and either approve or overturn it.
• 1 September 2023: The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights called on the Tunisian government to “take urgent measures regarding 4 political detainees in Tunisia, in relation to the conditions of their detention in prison”, including Ghazi Chaouachi.” The African Court called, in a ruling, to remove all barriers that prevent 4 Tunisian political detainees from communicating with their families, lawyers, and doctors of their choice,” and to inform the detainees, their families, and their lawyers of the reasons for their detention, specifically providing “sufficient information and facts related to the legal and factual basis for the detention.”
• September 21, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Court of Appeal in Tunis refused to release the defendants in the “conspiracy against state security” case, in response to the appeal submitted against the investigating judge’s decision to extend the period of pre-trial detention for a number of politicians, including Chaouachi.
• October 2, 2023 – Chaouachi started a hunger strike: The Defense Committee for Detainees said that political leaders Issam Chebbi, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Khayam Al-Turki, and Ridha Belhaj informed the committee that they “would be on a hunger strike starting Monday morning, in protest against the continuing judicial farce judicial used by the authorities to deprive them of their freedom for many months without providing any evidence for the accusations brought against them, and to demand an end to the injustice imposed on them and their release.”
• October 5th 2023: An article 15 complaint was filed at the International Criminal Court in The Hague asking for an investigation to be opened into the alleged crimes committed by the Tunisian Government – directed by Kais Saied – against civilians throughout society, in particular opposition leaders and parties, Black Tunisians and migrants, judges, trade unions, journalists and civil society.The case was submitted on behalf of the family members of Noureddine Bhiri as well as Rached Ghannouchi, Said Ferjani, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Chaima Issa, Ridha Belhaj. The application also called for an investigation into the death of Ridha Bouzayene. The communication asked the prosecutor to investigate the following suspects:  President Kais Saied; current Interior Minister Kamel Feki; former Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine; Justice Minister Leïla Jaffel; Minister of National Defense Imed Memmich, and the heads of the army and the Garde Nationale.
• October 12, 2023: The “Detained Political Leaders’ Defense Committee in Tunisia” in what is known as the “Conspiracy Against State Security Case” confirmed that political prisoner Jaouhar Ben Mbarek and his fellow hunger strikers agreed to suspend their strike after several appeals were sent to them by human rights and political organizations.
• November 22, 2023: The Indictment Chamber of the Court of Appeal decided to reject all requests for the release of detainees, including Chaouachi, as well as a request to lift the travel ban on one of the defendants in the same case and to repeal the order banning him from appearing in public places.
• December 21, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole decided to extend the pre-trial detention of political opponents accused in the conspiracy case for an additional 4 months.
• December 25, 2023: Elyes Chaouachi, son of prisoner Ghazi Chaouachi, published a statement on behalf of the family, stating that “lawyers were not able to visit my father political prisoner Ghazi Chaouachi today. His health condition is deteriorating and dangerous. He is unable to walk easily and does not sleep at night due to severe back pain.” He has a cervical orthosis, and until now he has not been allowed to be transferred to the hospital. Moreover, after the decision to extend his politically-motivated detention in accordance with the orders of the regime, my father entered into a state of isolation in his cell and of disobedience, refusing to deal with the prison administration and the judicial function, and not taking any medication, though he suffers from chronic diseases,as well as not going out to the prison yard or receiving supplies from the family, boycotting meetings with lawyers and family, staying inside the cell without leaving it and not talking, just eating some bread and water nothing else… We hold those in power responsible for my father’s physical and psychological safety, as well as the investigating judge, Samir Zouabi, and the Ministry of Justice.”
• January 11, 2024: The indictment chamber responsible for examining terrorism cases at the Court of Appeal in Tunis issued a decision supporting the decision of the investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole to extend the pretrial detention for an additional period of 4 months against 6 defendants detained in connection with what is known as the case of “conspiring against the security of the State”, including Chaouachi.

Violations

• Right to a fair trial: Lawyer Samir Dilou confirmed, in a post on his Facebook page, that “At seven fifty-five in the morning of Saturday, February 25, 2023, and after 15 hours of interrogations and pleadings, and after issuing 3 prison warrants, we became convinced that the fate of each of Issam Chebbi, Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Chaima Issa, and (fellow lawyers) Ghazi Chaouachi and Ridha Belhaj, is 5 additional prison orders, without legal or realistic justification, so we decided to withdraw” (Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed).
• Very poor living conditions: Lawyer Ines Harath mentioned, in a post on her Facebook, after visiting Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Ridha Belhaj, Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Lazhar Akremi, and after meeting colleagues who visited Khayyam Al-Turki, that they are “deprived of the right to bathe and sun exposure, and they were transferred to extremely dirty rooms full of bugs and insects and not equipped with any health facilities, as it is necessary to relieve human needs in a hole in the ground, in addition to depriving them of the simplest prisoner rights such as medical treatment”, according to her confirmation. Ines Harath also considered that “there are instructions from the regime to the prison administration to endanger the lives of political detainees by placing them with carefully selected common crime prisoners, most of whom were imprisoned for premeditated murder cases”, according to her post.