A court in Tunisia sentenced four people to death and two to life imprisonment for the murder of a left-wing politician in 2013, the state prosecutor's office announced today.
The killing of Popular Front coalition leader Chakri Belaid, who was shot in his car in front of the house where he lived in February 2013, sparked massive protests across the country that led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.
The case was reopened last month after the judge who led the previous investigation was arrested on suspicion of withholding information. Wednesday's ruling comes after multiple delays and lengthy deliberations due to the "complexity of this very difficult case," Belaid Defense Committee member Mohamed Dzmur said.
Of the 23 accused, five were acquitted, while the others received sentences ranging from two years to 120 years in prison.
Belaid's brother Abdelmajid called the verdicts a "positive step" and added that the suspects for planning the assassination are still awaiting trial.
Until his death, Belaid was known as a great critic of the then-ruling Islamist party Enhada, which, after his assassination, was accused by his supporters of taking too lenient an approach towards Islamic extremists.
After the murder of another left-wing politician, Mohamed Brahmi, in July of that year, the ruling Enhada declared the Islamist organization Ansar al-Sharia a terrorist organization, while security forces killed several alleged members of the al-Qaeda-linked group suspected of involvement in Belaid's death.
Several members of Ansar al-Sharia have been sentenced to prison terms, including the head of its military and intelligence wings.
The killings and subsequent unrest sparked a political crisis in Tunisia as the country struggled to transition from dictatorship to democracy.
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