(TAP) – President of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) Jamel Msallem said impunity for perpetrators of attacks on citizens encourages such practices which undermine people’s human dignity and their physical integrity, in allusion to the recent events in Sidi Hassine Sijoumi.

Speaking to TAP, he said the League had meetings with officials of the Interior Ministry amid the increasing number of assaults on citizens.

The LTDH President said the statement released by the Interior Ministry the day before on “the lynching of a minor” covers the violations committed by the police and the real reasons behind the events of Sidi Hassine.»

According to the ministry, the young man, who was drunk, stripped naked in an act of provocation targeting law enforcement officials.

The president of the League reminded of the number of arrests (nearly 2,000 young people) made last January, two thirds of them are minors.

He pointed out that the league has received over 700 complaints of police violence in detention centers or while transporting detainees.

Msallem added that the League submitted a report on police violence to Prime Minister and acting Minister of the Interior Hichem Mechichi who promised to open an investigation, yet nothing has been done.

Last Thursday, the LTDH said that it would closely follow the case of young an Ahmed Ben Moncef Ben Ammar, from Sidi Hassine, who died in a detention centre.

The League strongly denounces police violence and the excessive use of tear gas, saying the government’s unresponsiveness encourages impunity.

The League holds the PM and acting Interior Minister accountable for these offenses. It seems that police violence is a strategy used by the government to quell protests, the same source said.

Source: TAP News Agency