In Tunisia, a French doctoral student in political science was arrested and has been detained since October 19 by order of the military justice system. A warrant of committal was issued against him. The young man is accused “ of endangering state security “.
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It has been twelve days since Victor Dupont was arrested in Tunisia. Aged 26, the young man was first placed in police custody for 48 hours before a committal warrant was issued. During all this time, his relatives and diplomacy preferred to keep the matter quiet, wishing to negotiate his release with the Tunisian authorities discreetly.
Doctoral student attached to the University of Aix-Marseille and working in particular on unemployed graduates in the Post-revolutionary Tunisiathe researcher had visited the deprived regions of the northwest of the country several times. He had arrived in Tunisia around ten days before his arrest to conduct interviews.
“ It is not a political subject linked to dissidents or opponents, it is not a security subject, it is a classic sociological subject », insisted to AFP Vincent Geisser, director of the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim Worlds (Iremam), attached to Aix-Marseille University, pleading for his release.
A classic indictment
Victor Dupont is now accused “ of endangering state security “. A classic indictment in Tunisia where dozens of opponents, activists, lawyers or journalists were arrested and detained on suspicion of conspiracy against the State or even foreign intelligence.
In his speeches, the President Kaïs Saïed – who has just been re-elected after a controversial presidential election – also frequently refers to plots hatched from abroad against his country.
The particularity of Victor Dupont’s case therefore lies in the fact that he is French. One of his friends, also French, was arrested at the same time as him. “ There is a total mobilization of the French diplomatic services », Underlined Vincent Geisser to AFP. Faced with this tense context, certain media and institutions in Tunisia have decided to freeze, until further notice, their recruitment of foreign personnel.
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