Prominent lawyer and former president of the Tunisian Bar Association Abderazzak Kilani will appear before the Military Court of First Instance in Tunis on 12 May. On 2 January 2022, security forces prevented him from exercising his duties as a lawyer by not allowing him to visit his arbitrarily detained client, former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri. He is prosecuted on the basis of a “verbal exchange” with police officers following that incident. He faces up to six years imprisonment if convicted. His trial is a dangerous precedent and an assault on fair trial rights in Tunisia. Amnesty International calls on the authorities to drop the baseless charges against him and stop prosecuting civilians before military courts.
