Tunisia judges’ union calls to boycott temporary Supreme Judicial Council

The executive office of the Union of Administrative Magistrates of Tunisia (UMA) has called on Tunisian judges not to recognise the temporary Supreme Judicial Council appointed by President Kais Saied and to boycott its work.

In a statement published on Facebook, the UMA warned that the Council “represents a flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers” and “undermines the judges right to choose their counterparts” in the Council through fair elections.

UMA explained that Saied’s decision to establish a provisional Supreme Judiciary Council to replace the current body, under the pretext of Reform and Fighting Corruption, constitutes a coup against the judiciary and the abolishment of its existence in a way that eliminates the role of the judiciary in protecting rights and freedoms and in establishing the rule of law.

The union expressed its readiness “to engage in all forms of struggle in order to defend the independence of the judiciary and to confront all attacks against the judicial authority.”

The Tunisian Official Gazette released yesterday, included a presidential decree to establish a provisional Supreme Judiciary Council to replace the current body.

According to the Gazette, the temporary Supreme Judicial Council “enjoys functional, administrative and financial independence and supervises the affairs of the judicial, administrative and financial judiciary, to replace the current Supreme Judicial Council.”

Saied dissolved the council which deals with the independence of the judiciary last week claiming he was “a thing of the past”.

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