MRG welcomes the general prosecutor’s decision to start a new impartial process against Arroi Baraket and demands the thorough investigation of the officer who attacked her

اضغط هنا لقراءة هذا البيان الصّحفي بالعربيّة

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This is an update on our 20 September statement on the police attack and false charges against our consultant Arroi Baraket in Tunis, Tunisia.

On Tuesday 21 September, Arroi Baraket was seen by the general prosecutor at the tribunal of first instance in Beb Bnet, Tunis, enabling her to testify following the false accusations of ‘assault against public officer’ presented against her by the police officer who violently attacked her on the night of Friday 17 September.

On hearing Arroi’s testimony, the chief prosecutor deemed that the police complaint, made in the same place where the facts of the night took place, Bab Elkhadra, created procedural irregularities. The prosecutor requested that procedures concerning Arroi’s accusation are recommenced at an impartial venue, that is the national guard in Bardo. Consequently, Arroi and the two witnesses to the events, went to the national guard and re-testified. At the same time, Arroi finally managed to file her own complaint against the police officer before the public prosecutor, and her testimony on this matter was heard yesterday.

MRG cautiously welcomes this preliminary decision of the general prosecutor to start a new impartial process. We demand that the false charges against Arroi are dismissed and that the police officer who violently attacked Arroi is investigated with a view to disciplinary action.

Arroi is supported by the Association Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates and a network of local civil society organisations and lawyers (some of whom part of MRG’s network), who attended a solidarity demonstration on Tuesday while Arroi’s hearing was taking place.

For more information contact the MRG Press Office.

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Photo: A woman holding a sign during the demonstration that took place on 21 September 2021 before the tribunal of first instance in Tunis, in support of Arroi Baraket. The sign reads: ‘2012 Meriem Ben Mahmoud “guilty of having been raped”; 2021 Arroi Baraket “always guilty of being a woman”‘. Credit: Saadia Mosbah.