a 27-year-old French doctoral student arrested in Tunisia

Tunis

For more than ten days, the information was not revealed to the general public. But in Tunis, circles of researchers and journalists only talked about that: Victor Dupont, doctoral student at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim World (Iremam) in Aix-en-Provence, was arrested on October 19. The 27-year-old Frenchman, who was preparing a thesis on unemployed graduates, is accused of “endangering state security”. A Franco-Tunisian friend was also incarcerated.

Since President Kaïs Saïed froze Parliament in July 2021 and then established a presidentialist regime, more than a hundred Tunisians (journalists, activists, politicians, etc.) have been incarcerated for various reasons. If at least three Franco-Tunisians – a former minister and two journalists – are today in prison, Victor Dupont is the first non-binational Frenchman to pay the price of this justice shaped by Kaïs Saïed, re-elected on October 6.

On October 19, Victor Dupont met at 11:30 a.m. at his home with three French friends to go on a weekend trip to Cap Bon. “ I sent him a message telling him to go down the street because we were coming, says Édouard Matalon, Parisian librarian. When I get out of the taxi, I see Victor pinned against a wall by 4 or 5 men in civilian clothes. He shouts to me : “Call the embassy !” » Édouard Matalon takes the phone from the friend who accompanies him but it is immediately snatched away. He is arrested in turn. Another friend, who was waiting in Victor Dupont's apartment, goes out into the street and is also arrested. After a search of the young sociologist's home, and several hours locked in unmarked cars, the four friends were taken to El Gorjani, headquarters of the judicial police. They will spend the day there. Around 9 p.m., they were told that Victor Dupont was taken into police custody. His three comrades are released.

On Monday 21, they return to El Gorjani. There, they learned that Victor Dupont was referred to the military tribunal of Kef (in the northwest), an hour from Jendouba where the young man, member of a scientific program financed by the European Research Council (ERC), was his field work. “ It is totally exceptional that a young French researcher can be brought before military justice » Tunisian police, which generally deals with attacks on state security, regretted Vincent Geisser, director of Iremam, to AFP.

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“Unjust acts”

Édouard Matalon and his two friends immediately went to Kef with the lawyer. Once there, one of the two young women (whose identity the family does not wish to reveal) is arrested. This Franco-Tunisian resident in Paris was placed under arrest for reasons still unknown. That same day, Victor Dupont was also placed under arrest warrant for endangering state security. The investigation is underway. According to the 2015 anti-terrorism law, he could serve up to 14 months in preventive detention.

On the advice of the French embassy, ​​those close to Victor Dupont did not wish to publicize the affair. The Point broke that silence Wednesday evening. “ The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and our embassy in Tunis are in close contact with the Tunisian authorities on this subject. “, the Quai d'Orsay only indicated to AFP.

In recent months, at least two other cases have been opened against Europeans – including a journalist – who are free but prohibited from leaving Tunisian territory. “ Not publicizing this type of affair has not proven effective. This gives the impression that the consular services are giving in to unjust acts. », Estimates a French researcher.

What is the objective of the Tunisian authorities? “ They send messages, analyzes a Tunisian researcher. To researchers and journalists, they show that no one is safe. To France, they remind us that Tunisia is sovereign and that it does what it wants. »Tunis, he recalls, is also trying to get closer to Iran, China and Russia.