The Criminal Chamber at the Tunis Court of First Instance has decided to dismiss the case in favor of businessman Slim Chiboub in a drug trafficking case. In the same procedure, one of his relatives was, however, sentenced to ten years in prison. This decision comes in a legal context that is still charged for Ben Ali’s former son-in-law.
The Criminal Chamber at the Tunis Court of First Instance has ruled in the so-called drug trafficking case involving businessman Slim Chiboub. The court decided to dismiss the case in his favor, thus putting an end to the proceedings brought against him in this specific case.
This decision marks a turning point in a case which had attracted particular attention due to the profile of the person concerned and the serious nature of the initial accusations.
A heavy sentence for a loved one
If Slim Chiboub benefited from a dismissal of the case, the Criminal Chamber did not clear all of the people prosecuted in this case. One of his relatives was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison.
This heavy sentence confirms that the court accepted the existence of criminally established facts in the context of this case, while considering that the elements gathered did not make it possible to incur direct criminal liability on Slim Chiboub.
The evidence in the file shows that the investigation distinguished between the different levels of involvement of the accused persons. The dismissal of the case pronounced in favor of Slim Chiboub means, on a legal level, the absence of sufficient charges to justify his referral to a trial court in this specific case.
The conviction handed down against his relative confirms, on the other hand, that the network or the facts pursued were indeed considered to have been established by the courts.
A legal situation still sensitive
It should be remembered that Slim Chiboub, son-in-law of the former President of the Republic Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, remains under a committal warrant in the context of another case still pending before the courts.
In other words, the dismissal pronounced in this drug trafficking case does not put an end to all of his legal troubles, several separate proceedings remaining in progress or awaiting judgment.
