Officer charged for Tunisian Spring killings

The Sfax province Military Court Tuesday issued a sentence of 15 year imprisonment for Tayeb Amimi, a First Lieutenant in the Tunisian National Guard for the murder of three protesters. The latter were killed in the town of Degache in the province of Tozeur during the country's January 14 revolution. The victims' relatives say the sentence is "unacceptably lenient and insulting." The court also awarded compensation to those injured and the families of those killed in the revolution, ranging from TND 2,000 to 440,000. As soon as the judge read out the verdict, the brother of the deceased victim Abdel Kader Makki, began shouting in protest against the ruling, describing it as "unjust and an insult to the blood of the martyrs" The families of the killed and injured in Degueche conducted a sit-in outside the Sfax military court which lasted over two months. The Tunisian opposition has accused the Troika government of failing to tackle core problems, including the general pardon and the issue of the revolution's victims who are yet to be compensated.