A Tunisian court delivered verdicts on Wednesday, condemning four individuals to death and sentencing two others to life imprisonment for their roles in a murder that triggered widespread unrest in the country.
The victim, Chokri Belaid, a 48-year-old leader of the Popular Front coalition, was a vocal critic of the Islamist Party Ennahda, which rose to power following the Arab Spring uprisings that ousted the country’s longstanding dictator in 2011.
Belaid’s assassination was one of several violent incidents in 2013 that sparked protests and underscored Tunisia’s challenges in transitioning from dictatorship to democracy.
The criminal court, specialized in handling terrorism cases, issued a total of 23 verdicts related to Belaid’s murder.
Alongside the death penalties and life imprisonment, other sentences ranged from two to 120 years, according to a statement by a public prosecutor outside the court.
Abdelmajid Belaid, the brother of the slain leader, described the verdicts as “a positive step” and expressed hope for the trial of those suspected of orchestrating the assassination to commence soon.
