Four individuals in Tunisia have been condemned to death, while two others received life imprisonment for their involvement in the assassination of opposition figure Chokri Belaid over a decade ago.
The verdicts were upheld by the deputy public prosecutor of the anti-terror judicial division on Wednesday.
Among the 23 individuals charged in connection with the murder, sentences varied from two to 120 years for some, while five were acquitted.
Supporters of Belaid had congregated near the Tunisian court since Tuesday evening, rallying for justice with fervent slogans.
They chanted “Chokri is always alive” and “we are loyal to the blood of the martyrs”.
Belaid was shot dead in his car outside his home on February 6, 2013. The secretary-general of the Democratic Patriots Party was a fierce critic of the then-ruling Islamist party Ennahda, claiming it had turned a blind eye to violence perpetrated against secularists.
His funeral marked one of the most significant displays of collective mourning in Tunisian history, drawing an estimated one million individuals to the streets and sparking widespread protests.
In the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia grappled with uncertainties surrounding the impartiality of its judiciary and security apparatus.
Shortly thereafter, another prominent opposition figure, pan-Arab leftist Mohamed Brahimi, fell victim to a similar fate, igniting further political turmoil that eventually led to the government’s resignation.
Authorities attributed the assassinations to Ansar al-Sharia, a Salafist group suspected of ties to al-Qaeda and classified as a terrorist organisation in August 2013.
While Belaid’s family and secularist politicians pointed fingers at Ennahdha party leaders, who were in power at the time, alleging their involvement in the assassination.
