Casablanca - The civil rights committee confirmed on Tuesday that the defense attorney of one of the accused in the Gdim Izik case has provided false information, alleging that he had been tortured before the magistrate of the military court.
Casablanca – The civil rights committee confirmed on Tuesday that the defense attorney of one of the accused in the Gdim Izik case has provided false information, alleging that he had been tortured before the magistrate of the military court.
During a press conference held on Tuesday to inform the national and international public and human rights organizations about the case’s proceedings, the defense confirmed that the defense’s allegations that the accused tortured before the investigating judge in the military court during interrogations have been debunked by the accused himself.
The accused denied during the interrogation by the Criminal Chamber in the Court of Appeal in Sale last Thursday that he was subjugated to any sort of mistreatment.
The defense team, which consists of Mohammed Shahbi, Ibrahim Rashdi, Abdul Kabir Tbeih, Abdessamad Idrissi and Omar Sukrami, denounced in Thursday’s press conference the misinformation and deception of the defense body, as well as the complaint they submitted to the Committee against torture, affiliated with the United Nations in 2014, which was accepted in 2016.
Addressing this point, the defense stated that Moroccan law allows defendants in the event of torture to file a complaint before the competent authorities, which none of the defendants has done.
The defense of the civil rights tried to draw attention to the defendants’ numerous attempts to mislead public opinion by politicizing the case or creating tension within the court. It noted that, contrary to all the rules governing the normal conduct of trials, the defendants chanted slogans and made statements that had nothing to do with the criminal case before the Appeals Criminal Chamber.
The defense also said during the press conference that most of the defendants refused to answer the questions of the defense of civil rights. The law guarantees the right of those who want to remain silent, but not those who do not want to answer questions. The questions they refused to answer pertained to their statements during the interrogation where they confessed on several occasions to having committed crimes.
The incidents of Gdim Izik date back to October and November 2010, during the dismantling of the camp that resulted in deaths, injuries and material damage. 11 law enforcement officers, including an officer of Civil Protection, killed and their dead bodies were desecrated. 70 other individuals were injured, mostly law enforcement officers and 4 civilians. Also, private and public property suffered enormous material damage.
