The speaker of Tunisia’s dissolved parliament appeared in court in the coastal city of Sousse on Thursday as part of a case involving money-laundering and “incitement to violence”.
Rached Ghannouchi, who also heads the Ennahdha party that dominated Tunisian politics for a decade until President Kais Saied staged a power grab in mid-2021, was previously questioned on the case in July.
Other Ennahdha members are also facing prosecution over suspicious transactions involving Instalingo, a digital content production firm.
The company has been under investigation since last year for allegedly “plotting against state security” and inciting violence.
After a 14-hour hearing, the investigating judge released Ghannouchi, his lawyer Sami Triki said.
He added that Ghannouchi will still be prosecuted in this case, but that no date for the next hearing has been set yet.
“This is trumped-up and aimed at distracting the Tunisian people from the real problems we’re facing,” he said.
Ghannouchi has strongly criticised Saied’s seizure of power, during which the president sacked the Ennahdha-supported government and seized full executive authority.
Saied also dissolved the parliament and pushed through a constitution giving his own office almost unlimited powers.
Ghannouchi and other Ennahdha officials are also on trial in a separate case, known as the “shipment of jihadists” to conflict zones, which has been at the heart of the political debate for years and has recently resurfaced.
In July, judges froze Ghannouchi’s Tunisian bank accounts and those of several relatives and members of his party.
That came after a court issued a travel ban against him in May as part of an enquiry into the 2013 killings of two prominent left-wing figures.
Last month, two top US senators sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for making aid to Tunisia conditional, in coordination with G7 nations, to tackle the “erosion of democracy” in the country.
After Tunisia’s new constitution was approved with a turnout of only 30.5 percent, Blinken had raised concerns that it “could weaken Tunisia’s democracy and erode respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
