TUNIS - (Xinhua) - The Tunisian Ministry of Justice confirmed today (Saturday) the Tunisian judiciary's commitment to follow up more than 100 files in criminal cases attributed to a number of judges, including the 57 judges whom President Kais Saied had decided to relieve from their duties on the second of last June. .

The Ministry of Justice said, in a statement distributed this evening, that the competent public prosecution undertook to follow up 109 files for a number of judges, and authorized the referral of a number of them to the judicial poles (complexes) specialized in terrorist crimes and financial corruption.

She added, "Penal consequences have been raised against the exempted judges (57 judges), pursuant to the provisions of Decree No. 35 of 2022," noting that "investigative research has been opened for this purpose for several crimes such as financial corruption, bribery, money laundering, and economic and customs crimes, in addition to Crimes of a terrorist nature, such as covering up a terrorist organization and obstructing and deviating from procedures.

And she added that the crimes attributed to these judges also include "concealing evidence of the crime, negligence in the means of criminal proof, and other crimes represented in fraud, exploitation of job characteristics, harm to management, crimes of sexual harassment, and violation of laws regulating weapons and ammunition."

She indicated that she had "informed the Temporary Supreme Council of Judicial Judiciary of the list of exempted judges subject to criminal consequences, in addition to assigning the General Inspection since the first of last June the task of inventorying the offices of the exempted judges in order to determine responsibilities, which necessitated taking legal measures in this regard."

And it considered in its statement that this confirmation comes "to deny what is being circulated on some social media by parties seeking to disrupt the course of accountability and claiming that there are no files."

On the ninth of August, the Tunisian Administrative Court issued rulings suspending the implementation of most of the exemption decisions that included judges, which came in Presidential Order No. 516 issued by President Kais Saied on the second of last June.