Tunisia drops legal charges against participants in the revolution

The board of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly yesterday approved a new law to win over the revolutions’ youth, victims and the wounded, by cancelling the trials and prosecutions against Tunisians who participated in the demonstrations and protests during the revolution that toppled the regime of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The law, which was approved by a majority of 141 votes out of 143 deputies who attended the session, ended the suffering of the victims’ families, who also participated in the meeting and were deeply affected during the ratification of the articles of the law.

Cheers erupted in the room emphasising “Loyalty to the martyr’s blood”. The House of Representatives echoed, more than once, the national anthem, and called a number of them to honour the families of the victims and wounded following the completion of the vote, which brought months of legal and constitutional battling to an end.

The law states that: “Perpetrators of criminal acts which have been carried out in order to achieve the success of the revolution in the period between December 17 and February 28, will not be held accountable,” which means there will be a drop in prosecutions against young people accused of burning police stations and other acts.

The law passed by the Tunisian Constituent Assembly confirms that such acts were not criminal acts that require prosecution, but were part of the revolution. The second chapter of the law considered that “attacks leading up to the fall of the martyrs of the revolution, wounded or injured, are serious violations.”

The third article of the new law mentions that “if the truth and dignity commission referred the files to the public prosecution, pursuant to Chapter 28 of the Basic Law relating to the award of transitional justice and regulation, the public prosecution automatically forwards them to the specialised judicial departments.”

The House of Representatives rejected the fifth chapter in the bill, which called for “the military courts will transmit, permanently, all issues that came from the jurisdiction under this Act, to the courts of justice,” which means that the Constituent Assembly was entrusted with the system of transitional justice, and truth and dignity, and to handle the cases of those killed and wounded during the revolution.

The new law requires the government to issue executive orders in a period not exceeding four months from the date of approval.

With the passage of the new law, the Tunisian National Council ends a long debate about the two main issues of the Tunisian revolution, which are the acquittal of two young revolutionists of the charges against them in relation to the acts attributed to them during the days of the revolution, and the referral of victims to the transitional justice system.