The Islamist party Enhada protests against the dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and calls for street protests, while supporters of the Head of State celebrate the decision

President Kaïs Saied dismantles Tunisia's highest judicial body

photo_camera REUTERS/ZOUBEIR SOUISS - Kais Saied, President of Tunisia

Since the constitutional coup in July, Tunisian President Kaïs Saied has been gradually dismantling the country's institutional architecture. This controversial roadmap found a new target on Saturday: the High Council of the Judiciary, Tunisia's highest judicial body. Independent in nature, its task is to appoint judges, and it was one of the usual targets of the president's criticism.

Saied, a jurist and constitutional law expert, posted a video in the early hours of Saturday morning in which he slammed members of the body for being "in collusion with criminals". "The Supreme Council of the Judiciary has become an institution where positions are sold and the judicial movement is established on the basis of loyalties," the president said, before defining the body as "part of the past".

The head of state, accompanied by several ministers, announced that in the coming days he would issue a decree concerning the Superior Council of the Judiciary. A legal imperative that would dissolve the body, which Saied describes as corrupt and accuses of having slowed down certain procedures, including the assassinations of the two leftist political leaders in 2013, attributed to sympathisers of the Islamist Enhada party.

Rachid Ghannouchi

In response to the threat of dissolution, the president of Tunisia's main judicial body, Youssef Bouzacher, spoke out on Sunday to reject Saied's decision outright. He stressed that there was no legal mechanism included in the constitution to dismantle the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, adding that the president's words did not imply the dismantling of a body dedicated to ensuring the proper functioning of the judiciary and its independence, according to the Magna Carta.

However, President Saied has been ruling without regard for constitutional precepts since July, when he dissolved parliament, dismissed the Enhada-led government en masse and arrogated to himself full powers. A decision he took on the basis of Article 80 of the 2014 Constitution, which he himself helped draft, using a controversial interpretation and skipping several points.

The Superior Council of the Judiciary, composed of 45 legal experts, was created two years after the adoption of the Constitution. The president last week took the first steps to minimise the body's capacity by eliminating grants and funds to the council and its members, according to AFP.

Túnez protestas
Demonstrations

The streets of Tunis witnessed a number of demonstrations on Sunday, with a range of different protests following President Saied's decision to dissolve the Supreme Council of the Judiciary. It was mostly supporters of the 63-year-old constitutional law professor who dominated the protests from the court's headquarters and elsewhere in the country, in marches that coincided with the anniversary of the murder of Choukri Belaid, one of two politicians assassinated in 2013.

For his part, the founder and leader of Enhada, Rachid Ghanuchi, called on his affiliates to protest against Saied's decision because of the "violations of rights and freedoms" and the precarious living conditions of citizens. Conditions that did not improve during the period of government of the Islamists, who have been in power uninterruptedly since 2011.

The former speaker of the House, Ghanuchi, also called for a fight against the "one-man rule" and a return to institutional normality. In this regard, President Saied in December extended the suspension of parliament until the next elections, which he set for 17 December this year. This process will entail a constitutional referendum scheduled for 25 July.

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