26 Nov 2022; MEMO: A Tunisian court on Friday issued a judgement in absentia of six years in prison against Leila Trabelsi, the widow of late Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, on charges of "influence peddling".
Mosaique FM radio revealed that the criminal division specialised in financial corruption cases at the Court of First Instance in Tunis issued an imprisonment judgment in absentia against Trabelsi on charges of: "Obtaining financial benefits through interfering to finance a commercial project with a bank loan without guarantees as per the regulations in force."
This judgement increased the imprisonment sentence against the late president's widow in Tunisian courts to 60 years, as she was previously sentenced in various cases relating to money laundering and the seizure of public funds and state real estate, with a total of 54 years in prison.
In the last sentence against her three years ago, the Criminal Division of the Court of First Instance in Tunis sentenced her to four years in prison.
Trabelsi currently resides in Saudi Arabia, which granted her and her late husband political asylum after they fled Tunisia in 2011 following the outbreak of the Tunisian Revolution.
