Moncef Amdouni

Summary

Moncef Amdouni, an employee of a political party, has been in prison since May 2023 in connection with a case concerning the possession of foreign currency dating back to 2015, on which the courts had already ruled with a final judgment, making his imprisonment unlawful and a flagrant violation of his rights.

Personal Information

• Name: Moncef Amdouni
• Status: Employee of the Ennahdha Movement
• Charges: Forming a conspiracy to launder money using the facilities afforded by professional and social activity; illegal possession of foreign currency; giving false testimony in the offence of forming a conspiracy to launder money; deliberately concealing evidence of the offence; and complicity in all of the above. Referral under Articles 92, 93, 94, 96 and 97 of Organic Law No. 26 of 2015; Articles 6, 22, 35, 36 and 37 of Law No. 18 of 21 January 1976; and Articles 32, 56, 57, 158, 241 and 244 of the Penal Code.

Incidents of Violation

On 5 May 2023, Moncef Amdouni, an employee of the Ennahdha Movement, was arrested in front of his home in the Jardins d'El Menzah area by internal security forces and taken to the police station without any legal justification. It later emerged that the arrest was based on a written denunciation by a person who had burgled the victim's home. The matter dates back to 2015, when Moncef Amdouni's home was burgled and a sum of foreign currency slightly exceeding the maximum allowed by law was found. According to his wife, the origin of the money was established: it belonged to a relative of theirs living abroad. The victim's lawyer also confirmed that the courts ruled on the case and convicted the burglar, while the charges against Moncef Amdouni were dropped after he settled the matter by submitting a request for settlement, the case being essentially a customs matter.

In 2023, the police arrested the same young man who had committed the 2015 burglary, in another case relating to possession of a narcotic substance. In his testimony to Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms, the victim's lawyer stated that during questioning the young man said that in 2015 he had stolen a large sum of money from the home of politician Sahbi Atig, whereas the house was not Atig's, as was recorded in the investigation reports of the earlier case.

Moreover, since the courts had already ruled on the case, the detention of Moncef Amdouni in prison along with Sahbi Atig is contrary to all legal procedures. The lawyer considered that the reason for his clients' imprisonment was the lack of charges and evidence against Sahbi Atig, and that the proximity of the two men's homes in the same neighbourhood was exploited to fabricate a case based on false testimony, without any evidence and relying on a case decided by the courts more than 9 years earlier.

The victim's lawyer also noted that he was initially prevented from visiting his client and from being present with him during the initial investigation, even though he had not been referred under the terrorism law, which bars lawyer visits for 48 hours; when he asked why, he was told these were “oral instructions”. He stressed that the case is marred by numerous procedural and legal irregularities, in particular charges such as “giving false testimony in the offence of forming a conspiracy to launder money”, which have no legal basis, and other violations against his clients, making the case essentially political, especially given the absence of all fair trial guarantees and the extension of the victim's detention without any development in the case or legal justification for their imprisonment.

Human Rights Violations

The arrest of the victim, Mr Moncef Amdouni, and his questioning in a case already decided by the courts is a clear violation of the law, as the investigation was based on an oral memo, which constitutes a procedural irregularity, and took place without any authorisation for his arrest from the competent authority. In addition, his lawyer was prevented from being present with him during questioning on the basis of oral instructions, which violates his rights as a person in police custody entitled to a lawyer under Law No. 5 of 16 February 2016 amending and supplementing certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. All the components of a fair trial, which govern civil and criminal proceedings from the outset, were also absent, as was respect for the presumption of innocence, which is of fundamental importance in criminal proceedings. This right is also protected by international and regional instruments, including Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Despite all the charges having been refuted and the lawyer's insistence that they are unfounded and that legal procedures were not respected in handling the case, according to the family and the victim's lawyer, what Moncef Amdouni is experiencing is the result of a political context that led to his imprisonment because his name is linked to one of the leaders of the Ennahdha Movement, although he worked as an employee in charge of the workers at the movement's headquarters. As a result, he has remained in Mornaguia Civil Prison for 10 months without any legitimate reason, and his family has been prevented from visiting him several times, with no clear justification for keeping him in prison.

Sources

The case of Moncef Amdouni was documented after a phone conversation with his wife on 21 February 2024 and an interview with the victim's lawyer, Mohsen Sahbani, on 23 February 2024.