According to the same press release, a hearing was scheduled for Monday, May 18. “While French bar associations were organizing to respond to this call for mobilization, the hearing was abruptly moved up to May 11,” said the magistrates.
Renvoi to May 21
The defense of the Tunisian lawyer had already been organized. “On April 29, the board of the Conference of Bâtonniers, an association that represents the 163 provincial bar associations in France, adopted a motion denouncing the infringements on the right to defense, expressing solidarity with Mr. Chawki Tabib and the Tunisian bar, and calling on the French bâtonniers to go to Tunis for the trial hearing.”
The change in the hearing date did not deter the Agen bar association from expressing its solidarity by attending the hearing and remaining vigilant about the trial process. Maître Eléa Cerdan, a member of the Bar Council and representative of the Agen bar association for Human Rights, joined the delegation of French lawyers who traveled to Tunis.
The lawyers present, in the Agen bar association’s press release, described an “electric atmosphere” and the “physical and moral exhaustion” of Mr. Chawki Tabib after a month of detention, as well as the difficulties faced by his lawyers in carrying out their duties. The lawyers demanded the necessary time to prepare the defense of their colleague.
