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Tunisia Ministry of Justice rejects court's decision regarding dismissal of judges

August 15, 2022 at 10:42 am

Tunisian citizens and lawyers leave the court of the governorate of Ariana after the announcement of a strike of the judges on February 9, 2022 [ANIS MILI/AFP via Getty Images]

The Tunisian Ministry of Justice rejected the Administrative Court’s decision to suspend the implementation of a presidential decree relieving dozens of judges from their posts.

The ministry announced that, pursuant to the provisions of Decree 35 of 2022, dated 1 June 2022 which dismissed 57 judges, the judges covered by the exemption are subject to criminal proceedings.

The ministry’s announcement comes as a response to the Administrative Court’s decision to suspend the execution of the dismissal of 49 of the 57 judges.

The spokesman for the Administrative Court, Imad Al-Ghabri, had confirmed last Wednesday that the court, after completing all the investigation procedures, decided to accept the suspension of the implementation of the decisions to relieve a number of judges.

It is also noted that the defence lawyer for the dismissed judges, Kamal Bin Masoud, had said in an exclusive statement to Arabi21 that the decision to stop the implementation of the dismissal of a number of judges is effective and not subject to appeal in any way.

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Bin Masoud stressed that the concerned authorities, including the President, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council should implement the decision, and return the judges to resume their work with all their rights and privileges.

President Kais Saied had issued a presidential decree dismissing 57 judges on corruption charges.

The judges declared their definite rejection of the decision, and carried out a series of protest measures, including a general strike.

Last week, a number of judges revealed, in statements to Arabi21, their intention to engage in new consultations in order to take new actions.

All of the 57 dismissed judges submitted requests to the Administrative Court to suspend the implementation of the decision to relieve them.

The court spokesman explained that the objections were dealt with according to the specifics of each file.

Al-Ghabri indicated that the Administrative Court will officially announce its decisions today regarding the appeals submitted against the presidential decree to dismiss the judges.

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