Nephew of former Tunisia president stands trial

21 April 2011

Trial postponed to 7 May

A nephew of former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali has gone on trial for drug use.

This is the first legal proceedings against a member of the presidential family.

Imed Trabelsi was escorted by security officials into a courtroom in Tunis on 20 April. However, the trial has now been postponed to 7 May due to legal anomalies and concerns that the judge assigned to the case is biased towards Trabelsi. In 2010, the judge, Lassad Chammakhi found Trabelsi innocent of stealing a French yacht.

Tunisian authorities have prepared a total of 44 cases against Ben Ali, his family and his inner circle (MEED 14:4:11). Ben Ali himself faces 18 cases, including voluntary manslaughter and drug trafficking.

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