{"id":6398,"date":"2013-07-12T20:24:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T20:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/tunisia-tv-boss-on-trial-for-corruption\/"},"modified":"2013-07-12T20:24:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T20:24:57","slug":"tunisia-tv-boss-on-trial-for-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/tunisia-tv-boss-on-trial-for-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia TV boss on trial for corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The trial of Tunisian television chief Sami Fehri, accused of corruption during the rule of now-toppled strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, opened Friday with the defence requesting bail and the court denying it.<\/p>\n

Fehri, who runs the private Ettounsiya TV and was a business partner of Ben Ali’s fugitive brother-in-law Belhassen Trabelsi, was arrested last August accused of having illegally used state television funds to bolster his own production company Cactus Prod.<\/p>\n

If found guilty he could be sentenced to 10 years in jail.<\/p>\n

Six former regime officials are being tried alongside Fehri on similar charges of corruption, including Abdelwaheb Abdallah, a former Ben Ali adviser.<\/p>\n

They also risk a 10-year jail sentence if convicted.<\/p>\n

The six have also been behind bars but the court agree on Friday, following a brief hearing devoted to procedure, to set them free on bail, Sonia Dahmani, a member of the defence team, told AFP.<\/p>\n

Technically it also agreed to release Fehri on bail, but the decision was immediately overruled because he is also in custody in connection with another case, Dahmani said.<\/p>\n

A new hearing has been set for October 25.<\/p>\n

Fehri founded Ettounsiya TV in 2011, after the popular uprising that toppled Ben Ali.<\/p>\n

Before that he was a producer and business partner of Belhassen Trabelsi who held 51 percent of the shares in Cactus Prod.<\/p>\n

Trabelsi, a brother of Ben Ali’s powerful and hated wife Leila Trabelsi, fled to Canada and his stake in Cactus Prod has been seized by the authorities.<\/p>\n

Fehri’s arrest in August triggered condemnation in Tunisia as it came just after the television boss announced he was pulling the plug on a satirical show, claiming he took the decision following government pressure.<\/p>\n

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