The official publication by Tunisia of a list of hundreds of “martyrs” of the revolution that overthrew the Ben Ali regime in 2011 is a “strong sign for the continuation of the democratic transition,” a lawyer told the Lobby on Saturday. ‘AFP.
A family association of victims, on the other hand, considered that the publication of this list did “not do justice to the victims”, but that it aimed to “calm the social tensions” experienced by this Maghreb country.
More than ten years after the revolution, this list long claimed by victims and their families – including the names of 129 dead and 634 injured – was finally published in the Official Journal on Friday evening, the eve of the 65th anniversary of the ‘independence.
“It is a recognition by the State of the sacrifices made by these people so that the dictatorship falls”, declared to AFP Abderrazak Kilani, lawyer and president of the general authority of the martyrs and wounded of the revolution.
This publication also paves the way for administrative appeals for some 1,500 people who consider themselves wrongly excluded from the list. In 2012, a preliminary assessment by the authorities had reported 338 dead and 2,147 injured.
But for Sofiene Farhani, spokesperson for the “Fidèles” association who himself lost his brother, “this list does not make sense, because it is not the result of investigations or trials allowing to shed light: its publication aims to calm current social tensions, it does not do justice to the victims ”.
It includes the names of people injured or killed during the first demonstrations in the country on December 17, 2010 until Ben Ali’s flight on January 14, 2011. It was released in October 2019 by the Tunisian High Committee for Human Rights. Man.
These procrastination in publishing this list in the OJ illustrate the setbacks of the transition: for several years, the return to power of figures close to the old regime hampered the work of justice and reconciliation.
Dozens of abuse trials committed during the dictatorships have started since 2018 before special courts as part of transitional justice, including several for the murder of demonstrators in 2011. But the authorities have obstructed access to the archives or to the accused. and no judgment has yet been pronounced.