Belaid murder probe: Marzouki testifies
2013-02-28 14:22
-
North Africa
This book describes a locale whose trans-cultural heritage serves as a crucial hinge.
Now R452.00
buy now
Tunis - Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Thursday
testified in the murder probe of Chokri Belaid, his office said in a statement,
after the opposition leader's family said he had received death threats.
"President Moncef Marzouki received this morning the
judge of the Tunis first instance tribunal who heard his testimony as a witness
in the assassination of Chokri Belaid," said a brief statement.
The family of Belaid, who was gunned down outside his Tunis
home on February 6, say the president was aware the vocal critic of the ruling
Islamist party Ennahda had received threats before his murder.
But presidential spokesperson Adnene Mancer denied these claims
when they were first made following the assassination.
On Thursday, Belaid's brother, Abdelmajid Belaid, repeated
the claims to AFP.
"My brother had told me, and I quote him: 'The
presidency has contacted me to tell me that I am threatened with death. And the
president offered me protection but I refused because it would be tantamount to
controlling me'," he said.
"As far as I am concerned, the president knows who
ordered the murder, those who decided to kill Chokri," he added.
Deadly street protests
Tunisia says radical Salafist Muslims murdered Belaid.
Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, who is also prime-minister
designate, said Tuesday the killer of the leftist opposition leader had been
identified and four suspects arrested.
Those held were "Tunisians and belong to a radical
religious strand... which we refer to as the Salafist movement," said
Larayedh.
But some family members have dismissed any involvement of
Salafists in the assassination, insisting Ennahda was responsible - a claim the
Islamist party staunchly denies.
Belaid's murder sparked deadly street protests and strikes
and exposed the widening fissures between the ruling Islamists and liberals.
It also threw Tunisia into its worst political crisis since
the revolution two years ago that ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali,
prompting prime minister Hamadi Jebali to resign last week.
