After suspending the elected Parliament and dismissing the government on July 25, the Tunisian President, Kaïs Saïed, on Saturday dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), a measure described as a new authoritarian drift by his detractors and which raises concerns for the independence of justice.
On Monday, the police closed the headquarters of this independent body created in 2016 to appoint judges, preventing employees from accessing it, its president, Youssef Bousakher, told AFP.
What does the dissolution of the Judicial Council mean? For political scientist Slim Kharrat, this is “a very serious and very worrying sign which is a continuation of the post July 25 decisions”.
Since his coup in July in the cradle of the Arab Spring, Mr. Saïed “has not stopped putting pressure on the judiciary and accusing some of the judges of being corrupt”, he adds.
Mr. Saïed notably accuses the CSM of having slowed down investigations into the assassinations in 2013 of two left-wing activists, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.
“Positions and appointments are sold and made according to affiliation,” he said on Saturday evening, in an allusion to the Islamoconservative Ennahdha party, his pet peeve.
“After a phase of oral pressure based on accusations, Mr. Saïed took action: the only representative of the executive power is getting his hands on the judiciary, that’s what we feared”, adds the political scientist. According to him, from now on, “Kaïs Saïed has control over the judiciary, so we are very far from a situation of the rule of law where the powers are separated”. “We can say that we are in a personal authoritarian regime, since Kaïs Saïed is not at all known for listening,” he adds.
Analyst Youssef Cherif believes for his part that Mr. Saïed “could place the judiciary under the informal authority of the presidency, as it was under the dictatorship of the presidents [Habib] Bourguiba and [Zine El Abidine] Ben Ali “.
What impact on rights?
The judiciary “is supposed to safeguard the rights and freedoms of citizens and enforce the law. To succeed in accomplishing this task, he needs to be independent of any other authority so as not to be pressured; today, this independence is no longer guaranteed,” said Mr. Kharrat.
“We can no longer say that Tunisia is a country in the process of democratization, Tunisia is once again joining the club of dictatorships and authoritarian regimes”, he regrets. With the dissolution of the CSM, President Saïed “completes his enterprise of dismantling any institution and any counter-power that has existed for ten years”.
“President Saïed is seizing the judiciary by using force, which represents a danger for the judiciary, rights and freedoms”, deplores for his part the president of the CSM, Youssef Bousakher.
We can say that we are in a personal authoritarian regime, since Kaïs Saïed is not at all known for listening
Does the judiciary have any responsibility? In Tunisia, the judiciary is strongly criticized by many Tunisians “who complain about its slowness and the unequal treatment they suffer before the courts”, underlines Mr. Cherif.
In this context, most of the criticism of Mr. Saïed’s decision comes “either from the intellectual elite who are worried about the future of the rule of law, or from those who are part of the CSM”, says -he.
For political scientist Abdellatif Hannachi, “justice, which has not been able to reform itself or decide on major issues, has provided an ideal opportunity” for President Saïed to bang his fist on the table “as he has done on July 25 ”, when he had justified his coup by socio-economic and political blockages.