Just for its blunder in the Akremi case, the Superior Council of the Judiciary must be dissolved

The administrative court decided on January 20 to cancel the suspension decision taken by the Superior Council of the Judiciary in July 2021 against Attorney General Bèchir Akremi. The administrative court found that the Superior Council of the Judiciary is not empowered to rule on the file of the former Attorney General and that there were in this file several procedural and other errors which tainted the decision of the CSM and the rendered illegitimate.

A first remark is essential at this level and constitutes a necessary preamble to any serious reflection on the subject. The Administrative Court has only done its job and is in no way a party to the Akremi case. He has always shown intransigence, neutrality, seriousness and unfailing fairness. This has been repeatedly demonstrated under the Bourguiba regime as well as under the Ben Ali regime. After the revolution, the administrative court managed to stay the course and pronounced very courageous judgments, including those dismissing the Minister of Justice of the troika Noureddine Bhiri and demanding the reinstatement of dozens of magistrates arbitrarily dismissed by Bhiri in the objective, globally successful, to bring the entire Tunisian judiciary into line. Along with the Court of Auditors, the administrative tribunal has always been a flagship of our justice system and a source of pride for our judiciary.

Based on this remark, the problem therefore seems to be at the level of the Superior Council of the Judiciary. But before addressing this aspect, it would be fair that those who criticized, suspected, even insulted, the former Minister of Justice, today apologize to Hasna Ben Slimane. She had been the first to point out the procedural weaknesses in the file of the former public prosecutor, presented by the Ministry of Justice to the Superior Council of the Judiciary, and had asked to recover the file to correct it. His request was refused by the Council for reasons which seemed obscure then but which find their explanation today in the verdict of the administrative court.

The question that arises is how the members of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, strong in their experience and their seniority, fifteen years at least, moreover, are the bosses of our judicial system, did not surrender account of the weaknesses in Akremi's case and the flaws in their decision to suspend him from office. Have they refused to hand over the file to the Ministry of Justice, which stubbornly asks them to do so, to show and consolidate their autonomy and independence from the executive power?

Worse still, there is reason to wonder if all of this was not carefully planned. In this month of July 2021, the affairs of Taieb Rached and Béchir Akremi had shaken public opinion. The Superior Council of the Judiciary was under pressure from the street and had to make a decision. This was done to calm the crowd, while leaving the door open to nullify its decisions by a simple appeal to the administrative court. If the Council had acted in this spirit, it would have been a smart move on its part. However, what was not expected was President Kais Saied's focus on justice and on the Superior Council of the Judiciary in particular, which had the effect of keeping the interests of the public opinion to everything related to justice, including the file of the former public prosecutor.

Just for his blunder in the case of Béchir Akremi, and without agreeing with the despotic vision of the President of the Republic concerning justice, the Superior Council of the Judiciary must be dissolved.