Immunity for torturers in Tunis is on the increase, claims NGO

The deputy head of the Tunisia branch of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Al-Mukhtar Al-Tarifi, said on Wednesday that the phenomenon of immunity for torturers in the country’s detention centres “has increased,” Anadolu has reported. He made his comments during a press conference in Tunis which asked, “Evading Punishment… Why?”

“Victims of torture are being exposed to all form of oppression,” explained Al-Tarifi, “especially when they file their complaints. In most cases, complaining leads to counter-accusations against the victims that push them to give up the original complaints.”

He said that the OMCT has dealt with 171 legal cases related to torture inside Tunisian detention centres since 2011. However, only one case was taken seriously and the perpetrator was sent to prison for just two months without even knowing many details about the case. “The judiciary deals with such cases very slowly,” said Al-Tarifi, “and the files concerning the torture cases remain outstanding in the investigation centres.”

Meanwhile, the OMCT’s legal advisor in Tunis, Mohamed Mazzam, said that the judiciary is not active regarding such cases. “Retention of immunity for the torture perpetrators puts Tunis at the bottom of the list in this field,” he added, stressing that the imposition of “deterrent” judgements against torturers would improve the situation.

A spokesman for the Tunisian Public Prosecution service, meanwhile, told Anadolu that there is no immunity for torturers. “Anyone who provides evidence that he was tortured will see the opening of a real investigation into his case,” insisted Sifyan Al-Saliti. “He is heard and justice is fulfilled.” However, he accepted that there are many cases which are simply frozen due to a lack of evidence.

Anadolu said that there are no official statistics for the number of prisoners inside Tunisian jails, but estimates provided by a former interior ministry official put the figure at around 22,000.