Former Tunisian Presidential Chief of staff Nadia Akacha sentenced to one year in prison

The Court of first instance of Tunis sentenced Tuesday Nadia Akacha, former Chief of Staff of President Kais Saied to one year in prison, in absentia, for defamation and false accusations.

The ruling from the sixth criminal chamber of the court came following a complaint by a former staff from the United Nations system accused by the former Tunisian official for leaking a telephone conversation.

Nadaia Akacha who resigned in January last year was at the center of a series of leaked audio tapes attributed to her. The now in exile Tunisian woman denied any wrongdoing and indicated it was a montage and rigged sound elements.

She requested investigations for the tapes. Tuesday court ruling also ordered Akacha to pay $195 in fine.

In January, another court ruling condemned the former official to four years in prison in connection to the leaked conversation, following the lawsuit lodged by the sister-in-law of the Tunisian President.
In one of the leaked tapes, Akacha revealed that President Saied is ill and does not recognize his ailment.

“He will end up very badly, because he is ill and does not recognize his illness. He is going to the wall, even on a personal and psychological level, he is going badly, very badly. There is a doctor who follows his condition. He has foreseen that he will have a big crisis and he will have it because this kind of pathology degenerates in the absence of care and supervision,” she allegedly said in the tape leaked on social media.

The leaked audio came few months after her resignation that chalked on “fundamental differences” with the country’s leader.