Presidential candidate Lotfi Mraihi handed 8-month prison sentence, barred from contesting elections

Tunis: The Court of First Instance in Tunis has sentenced President of the Republican Popular Union (UPR) Lotfi Mraihi to eight months in prison, along with a fine of TND 2,000. Mraihi has also been handed a lifetime ineligibility sentence, said defence lawyer Omar Ben Ismail. The lawyer told TAP on Friday that the same penalties were imposed on the other individuals involved in the case. On July 5, the spokesperson for the Court of First Instance of Tunis informed TAP that the public prosecutor's office had initiated a judicial investigation against Lotfi Mraihi and three other individuals for attempting to influence voters. This verdict follows evidence proving that the defendants had conspired to gather endorsements and purchase the votes of endorsements with money. On July 1, 2024, the public prosecutor's office launched an investigation into Lotfi Mraihi and the party's secretary general concerning their involvement in collecting endorsements in exchange for remuneration. On July 5, the investigati ng judge of the Court of First Instance issued arrest warrants for Mraihi and the UPR's secretary general on charges of money laundering, illegal transfer of money abroad, and opening foreign bank accounts without authorisation from the Central Bank of Tunisia. Lotfi Mraihi was a candidate in the 2019 presidential elections. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse