Tunis-Carthage Airport Case postponed and 4 detainees released

The Tunis Court of Appeal decided to postpone the announcement of its verdict in the Tunis- Carthage Airport Case to October 17 and to release 4 women defendants detained for the investigation needs, namely Asma, Amira and Rym Mahjoub, as well as Nejia Jridia, Imed  Trabelsi's mother. The Court turned down the request made by the defence lawyer to delay the case until the end of the National Constituent Assembly elections, and also refused the temporary release of some detainees who had spent a longer period than the imprisonment period in the first instance. Defendants Leila Trabelsi and 31 of her relatives and members of the deposed president's family, as well as the former presidential security director Ali Seriati are involved in financial and customs cases. The summer Tunis First Instance Court had condemned, on August 12, the defendants involved in the Tunis-Carthage Airport Case to sentences ranging between 4 months and 6 years of prison and fines of more than 200 million dinars. The public prosecutor and the defence lawyers had appealed against these verdicts for all the defendants.