Tunisia: Nabil Karoui kept in prison

The former candidate in the Tunisian presidential election of September 2019, Nabil Karoui, will remain in prison, after the request for his release, introduced by his lawyers was rejected. The man is prosecuted for « financial corruption ».

The request for release of Nabil Karoui, unsuccessful candidate in the 2019 presidential election, was rejected, this Wednesday, June 2, 2021, by the indictment division of the Court of Appeal of Tunis. The businessman, also president of the party « Qalb Tounes », is prosecuted for « financial corruption ».

Nabil Karoui had been arrested in August 2019 by the Tunisian authorities, in the context of a complaint filed against him for « financial corruption ». The businessman will be released after two months of detention, in the context of the same case. The same day, the public prosecutor at the Tunis Court of Appeal appealed against the decision to release Karoui.

It was on 24 December of the same year that a Tunisian court decided to imprison Nabil Karoui, but nothing more. His supporters believe that in order to put an end to what they believe to be a « politically motivated arrest », « recourse to international courts is now the next step for the party » of Nabil Karoui.

Candidate for the Tunisian presidential elections of 15 September 2019, Nabil Karoui spent this election in prison. He believed that his arrest was the result of a plot by the coalition of candidates in power with the main objective of removing him from the vote.