Purge of Tunisia's judiciary draws fire

The suspensions were designed to look like an effort to root out corruption in the courts, but the process failed to tackle the systemic bribery and influence-peddling in the system, which may undermine the country's transition.

TUNIS // Judges angry at the suspension of 82 of their colleagues are criticising the government for botching its attempt to reform a body widely perceived as being hopelessly corrupt.

The suspensions have provoked an uproar, including strikes by a new judges' union and a media campaign calling for a process that reflects Tunisia's commitment to democracy.

The courts may still be crippled by bribery, but the government must purge bad judges in a transparent and impartial way, judges and lawyers say.

About 1,800 judges work under the justice ministry and it is widely accepted that the judiciary was, and remains, flawed. Corruption in the courts was one reason Tunisians rose up in January 2011 and drove Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.

"I think there are many corrupted judges," said Afef Chaabane, a judge herself who has called for more transparency for years. "Yes, in some cases, the sentences and fines were fixed before the trial."

As many Tunisian people do, she described the lavish lives of some of her colleagues, lifestyles that most believe are supported by bribes. "The people don't trust us," said Ms Chaabane.

Anwar Ali Awlad, the head of a young lawyers' association, agreed. "The judiciary under Ben Ali didn't exist," he said. "No one trusts their decisions and this is very dangerous."

Hundreds more than the 82 judges suspended last month should be investigated, he said.

And yet, Mr Awlad said, the abrupt way the judges were fired was far from ideal. He fears a future in which politicians will hold sway over a weak judicial system.

Most of the 82 judges were notified of their suspension by telephone on May 28, informing them that as of the next day they were no longer employed by the justice ministry, and all pay was halted.

They were told they had been investigated by a team within the ministry and had been found to be corrupt.

Most judges were shocked, a source said. The suspended ones called each other to offer support, while some of those who had been spared were reluctant to associate with their tainted colleagues.

Even judges who were not suspended were outraged when they learnt that a new committee within the justice ministry had ordered the suspensions without consulting the accused judges or giving them the opportunity to defend themselves.

A ministry official, Mohammad Fadhel Saihi, explained that a commission to investigate judges had been set up after the interim government was voted in last year. The judges to be investigated were selected on the basis of "their history, the cases they have dealt with and the allegations of bribery by citizens".

Every case investigated resulted in a suspension, said Mr Saihi. He said that the decisions had never been officially announced, but that the judges had been informed individually not to come back to work.

"We have not yet achieved the goals of reform," said Mr Saihi, acknowledging that the committee's work was part of a transitional period.

Judges complained that the suspensions were unfair because those accused of wrongdoing had not been told what they were being charged with and had not been given the opportunity to defend themselves. Some also considered the suspensions a "gift" for some judges who should have been tried for corruption and jailed if found guilty.

The suspensions were designed to look like an effort to purge the courts of corruption, but the process failed to tackle the systemic bribery and influence-peddling in the system, said Raoudha Laabidi, the head of a union of judges formed after Ben Ali fled the country.

"The dirt is still there. We didn't touch the heart of the problem," she said. The way the suspensions were handled, she added, did not bode well for the far more challenging job of reforming the unpopular security forces. "Without an independent judiciary," she said, "you cannot talk about transitional democracy."

To protest the decision, Ms Laabidi was among the organisers of a judges' strike which lasted three days. The ministry had demonstrated, she said, "that the executive power controls the judicial power ... which contradicts transitional justice and the right to defend oneself".

The strike came to an end after the ministry allowed the suspended judges to appeal their cases. Between 30 and 50 of them did so, according to judges and others, and the verdicts are likely to be announced in the next two weeks.

But, said some, this is a stopgap solution. "Without real reform, the system will continue as it is, with corruption," said Ms Laabidi. Some analysts have called for a truth commission to investigate corruption without gutting the judicial system. Others have called for the salaries of judges to be increased to reduce the temptation to take bribes.

But all agree that even in this relatively small chunk of the government machinery controlled by Ben Ali, there is still much work to be done.

When Ben Ali left Tunisia, "the people were happy and had a lot of hope", said Abdelnassar Aweni, a lawyer who led chants during protests against Ben Ali.

Now, after observing the ministry bungle the suspension of the judges, Mr Aweni said he was disappointed. The upshot, he said, is that judges may not feel free to speak, fearful they might be suddenly dismissed.

"I'm shocked by the political behaviour in Tunisia now," he said. "I feel there is much egoism and many decisions are not carefully considered."