The UN expressed on Monday, June 14 its concern at the increase in police violence in Tunisia and urged the authorities to launch investigations and punish the perpetrators of these abuses.
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Among these violations, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Tunisia cites in a press release the death on June 8 of a young man in still unclear circumstances, following his death. arrest by the police in the popular district of Sidi Hassine in Tunis. This suspicious death was followed by unrest in the same neighborhood and in the aftermath "
disturbing videos circulated on social networks on June 9 showing members of the internal security forces, one of whom is hooded and equipped with a automatic rifle, in broad daylight, in the street and in front of witnesses, who seem to be forcibly undressing and molesting a young underage man on the ground,
”says the UN.
"
These serious and repeated violations since the beginning of the year reveal continuous dysfunctions within the internal security services, the resolution of which requires an infallible will from both the executive and the judiciary,
" said the UN. The High Commissioner urges the authorities to "
immediately initiate transparent, independent and prompt administrative and judicial investigations into each of these allegations
" adds the text. For the UN, "
the effective sanction of those responsible for these violations will mark the end of the impunity of those responsible for law enforcement who think they can absolve themselves of respect for Tunisian law and the rule of law
".
In Tunisia, more than ten years after the end of the Zine el Abidine Ben Ali police regime, the security forces no longer enjoy discretionary power, but have not been reformed much since. Their abuses are rarely the subject of legal proceedings. The Supreme Human Rights Commission, an independent constitutional body in Tunisia, warned Thursday that such abuses risked undermining "
confidence in the state and its institutions
".