A protest rally by magistrates took place on Thursday in front of the Tunis Court of First Instance to denounce what they described as the "injustice" endured by magistrates dismissed under Presidential Decree No. 2022-516 of 1 June 2022.
The demonstrators demanded "the liberation of the judiciary from the grip of the executive power represented by the President of the Republic and the Minister of Justice".
Magistrates brandished slogans against "interference" in the judiciary, such as "Justice of freedoms, not of instructions" and "Judiciary: no to dismissal and slavery".
The rally was organised by the Association of Tunisian Magistrates (AMT) and the Collective for the Defence of Dismissed Magistrates, to mark the first anniversary of what magistrates are now calling "the massacre of the 57 magistrates".
AMT President Anas Hmaidi said that "today is a black day in the history of Tunisian justice, as it is associated with the unjust dismissals of June 1".
These dismissals were not based on real cases, he stressed, pointing out that the Administrative Court had rendered justice to 49 magistrates out of the 57 dismissed and had decided to freeze the execution of these dismissals.
"The Ministry of Justice is refusing to apply these decisions", he said indignantly.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse