By RFIPosted on 30-04-2019Modified on 30-04-2019 at 23:13
More than a hundred personalities sign in the newspaper Le Monde a platform to demand the immediate release of Moncef Kartas. The UN investigator has been incarcerated in Tunisia since 26 March. The relatives and colleagues of Moncef Kartas have come out of their silence because of the diplomatic stalemate.
For the 107 signatories of this forum in the world, the detention of the researcher is illegal.
For the Tunisian authorities, Moncef Kartas must answer for "spying for the benefit of foreign parties" while, for the UN, the German-Tunisian expert enjoys by its mandate a diplomatic immunity. And Tunis would have taken no steps to request the lifting of this immunity.
Since June 2016, Moncef Kartas has been a member of the UN Group of Experts on Libya in charge of violations of the arms embargo. After co-issuing in 2017 a report denouncing violations of the blockade in 2012-2013 through the Tunisian territory, it had to make a new interim report more in-depth on this period. Sensitive theme at six months of legislative and presidential elections.
The Tunisian judicial authorities speak of connivance with the intelligence services of a foreign power. Some media appoint the United States and even go as far as talking about a wiretapping of the presidency of the Republic. Contacted, the palace of Carthage claims not to be aware of such accusations.
According to his lawyer, who deplores the slowness of the investigation, the questions that were put to him relate only to the Libyan aspect of his work.
In this case of espionage, the investigation and detention can legally extend until the summer of 2020. The lawyers made this Tuesday a request for release. In case of refusal, Moncef Kartas will no longer face a single judge, but an indictment chamber composed of three judges, which could accelerate the proceedings in progress.
On the same subject
What does Tunisia blame UN expert Moncef Kartas for?
comments