Tunisian Prez says top judiciary council to be replaced by provisional body

Tunis, Feb 11 (IANS) Tunisian President Kais Saied has said the dissolved Superior Council of the Judiciary will be replaced by a provisional body pending the establishment of a new council.

"It is a choice already made and Tunisia must turn this page and move on to cleaning up, starting with the judiciary," Saied said on Thursday at the opening of a ministerial council.

The judiciary should be independent, "but in reality it is the opposite," he added.

The President said "judges have a well-defined function within the framework of the Constitution... they only have to apply the law in complete impartiality."

Earlier on Thursday, some Tunisian judges protested in front of the Tunisian Justice Ministry in Tunis against the dissolution of the judiciary council by Saied on Saturday amid suspected corruption by many local magistrates, Xinhua news ageny reported.