CAT/C/31/D/189/2001
Page 4
2.10 The complainant was then brought before the examining magistrate in the presence, for
the first time, of his lawyers. The examining magistrate would not, however, allow any
exchange of information to take place between the complainant and his lawyers, refused to let
the lawyers speak, dictated the prosecution’s case1 against the complainant to his secretary, but
was unable to get the complainant and his counsel to sign the transcript of the hearing.
2.11 The complainant’s case then went before the State Security Court (Cour de Sûreté
de l’Etat), where it continued for an entire month and, according to the complainant, was
unanimously regarded by the international press as a complete travesty. The complainant says
that, prior to the proceedings, the Director of State Security, Mr. Moncef Ben Gbila, attempted
unsuccessfully to persuade him to give false testimony against other detainees, including
officials of ENNAHDA, in exchange for his release. According to the complainant, during the
proceedings, the magistrate of the State security court, Mr. Hechmi Zemmal, forced him to keep
his statements brief, thus compromising his right to a defence. In addition, when the
complainant was brought face to face with a witness who claimed to have been the victim of an
act of violence committed by him, this witness, according to the complainant, repeatedly stated
that the complainant was not the person in question. The defence counsel demanded that he be
acquitted for lack of evidence, but the magistrate found that the witness had been affected by the
shock of having to face his aggressor once again and, on 27 September 1987, sentenced the
complainant to 10 years’ immediate imprisonment and hard labour and 10 years’ administrative
supervision.2
2.12 The complainant stresses that, like other victims of torture, he was given no opportunity
in the examination proceedings and the trial to describe his experiences of torture or to denounce
those responsible. According to the complainant, judges brusquely interrupt to prevent anyone,
even lawyers, mentioning this topic, and the fear of being subjected again to torture, if the
detainee dares raise this issue with the judge, acts as a strong deterrent in the intimidation
process.
2.13 The complainant was subsequently moved around repeatedly both within and between
the country’s various penitentiary establishments. Thus, he was held in isolation with
three political prisoners, Fethi Jebrane, Mohamed Charrada and Faouzi Sarraj, in the
Borj Erroumi prison in Bizerte, from 1987 to 1992; from 1992 to 1993, he was transferred to a
common criminals’ cell; from 1993 to 1994, he was held in solitary confinement in a small cell;
and from 1994 to 1996 he was held together with two ENNAHDA officials - Habib Ellouz and
Ajmi Lourimi - and then transferred to El Kef prison and to the central prison in Tunis,
from 1996 to 1997.
2.14 The complainant says that the living standards and the treatment meted out to prisoners
by the prison authorities made his imprisonment an intolerable ordeal. He refers to the prison
crowding, the dirty conditions, the contagious diseases and the lack of medical care. He claims
that the punishment cells in which he was held in the Borj Erroumi prison were extremely
cramped, dark, with no water or WC, and very damp; his rations were limited to one piece of
bread a day and he was forced to wear dirty, flea-infested clothes. He maintains that the political
1
2
The complaint does not specify the accusations brought against the complainant.
The complaint does not specify the reasons given for the finding against the complainant.