Tunisia sentences 76 over soldier killings

Scores of suspected militants have been sentenced in absentia over the killings of eight Tunisian soldiers in 2013.

1 min read

13 October, 2016

Eight soldiers were killed in the attack in July 2013 [AFP]

A Tunisian court handed jail and death sentences to 76 people for killing eight soldiers in the Chaambi Mountains in 2013.

Only seven of the accused – all of whom are Tunisian – were present at the trial which started in later 2014, said prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti.

Four received seven year jail sentences, while another was handed 13 years. Another was sentenced to death and the seventh defendant was cleared of all charges.

The remaining 69 defendants, all of whom are in hiding, were given sentences ranging from 40 years to the death penalty, Sliti added.

Since the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia has faced a damaging rise in terror attacks.

This has devastated Tunisia's tourism industry, with foreign visitors to the country among those killed in the violence.

Despite a moratorium on the death penalty in 1991, Tunisia has continued to issue the death sentence, including recently against 31 people accused of attacking a government minister.