n Trial in case of weapons, drugs to continue June 30 n I was tricked into fleeing, says ousted leaderTUNIS: Tunisia's former ruler and his wife were convicted in absentia on embezzlement and other charges Monday after $27 million (£18.97 million) in jewels and public funds were found in one of his palaces. They were sentenced to 35 years each in prison, and fined. The conviction of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Leila Trabelsi followed a day-long trial before the Tunis criminal court. The couple went into exile on Jan. 14 in Saudi Arabia after a month-long uprising that sparked a string of other uprisings in the Arab World. The ex-president was fined 50 million dinars (about $35,750) and his wife 41 million dinars for embezzlement of public funds and misappropriation. The trove of jewels, some which the court said had “historic value,” and the money were found in a palace in the picturesque town of Sidi Bou Said, outside Tunis, following Ben Ali's departure. Ben Ali, 74, vigorously denied the charges in a statement through his French lawyer, calling the proceedings a “shameful masquerade of the justice of the victorious.” Some Tunisians expressed frustration that he would not be present during the trial. The verdict in a second case stemming from the discovery of weapons and drugs in the official presidential palace in Carthage was postponed. Public defenders assigned to Ben Ali said they needed time to study the file. The trial was to continue June 30. Earlier during the trial Ben Ali said he was tricked into leaving the country six months ago. In a statement issued by his lawyers, Ben Ali gave his first detailed account of the events leading to his departure. At the time, thousands of protesters had gathered in the center of the capital Tunis to demand that he step down, the culmination of three weeks of demonstrations which police tried to disperse by firing on the crowds. The statement said that the head of presidential security had come to Ben Ali in his office and told him “friendly” foreign intelligence services had passed on information about a plot to assassinate the president. He was persuaded to get on a plane that was taking his wife and children to safety in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but with the intention of returning immediately, the statement said. “He boarded the plane with his family after ordering the crew to wait for him in Jeddah. But after his arrival in Jeddah, the plane returned to Tunisia, without waiting for him, contrary to his orders. “He did not leave his post as president of the republic and hasn't fled Tunisia as he was falsely accused of doing,” the statement said. Ben Ali's version of events is unlikely to elicit sympathy from the majority of Tunisians. They are now enjoying relative freedom after decades when most people would not speak openly for fear of arrest by the secret police. He also denied having any bank accounts in Switzerland or any other foreign country, and said that he did not own any property overseas. Before Ben Ali's ouster, diplomats spoke of Tunisia's first lady spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on shopping trips abroad, while her relatives acquired yachts and beachside villas and used their influence to muscle in on lucrative businesses.
