Event Summary
Maître Mounir Gharbi, an Algerian solicitor and human rights defender, is the subject of criminal proceedings directly related to the exercise of his freedom of expression and his work as a solicitor. His appeal trial, initially set for 28 December 2025, has been postponed to 1 February 2026. In February 2025, he was sentenced in absentia by the court in Sétif to a prison term and a fine on the basis of publications and public statements relating to matters of public interest and the defence of fundamental rights. The postponement has prolonged the proceedings without calling into question the nature of the charges brought against Gharbi. Until February 2026 date, Gharbi remains under threat of enforcement of the sentence handed down, which directly affects his professional activity and public engagement.
The worrying aspect of this case lies in the criminal proceedings themselves, which target a lawyer for acts related to his expression and professional activity, and not in the procedural aspects of the judicial calendar. This case illustrates a worrying trend towards the judicialisation of the legal profession and the assimilation of critical expression or legal defence with criminal offences.