TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia's main Islamist political party, Ennahda, is denying that information recently brought to light shows it was behind the 2013 assassinations of politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.
On Oct. 2, a group investigating the slayings said at a press conference in Tunis that it has voice recordings and new documents proving that members of a secret organization connected with Ennahda were not only involved in the assassinations, but also infiltrated state institutions to steal thousands of related documents from the Tunisian Ministry of Interior.
The group presenting the information is composed of lawyers who weren't satisfied with the initial investigation into the assassinations. The group, which calls itself the Committee for the Defense of Martyrs Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, said it will demand that the judiciary examine the information.
Belaid — founder of the secular Popular Front party, which opposes Ennahda — was shot dead in front of his Tunis residence Feb. 6, 2013. Five months later, on July 25, Popular Front leader Brahmi was assassinated the same way. One person, Mustafa Khadr, was arrested in the case and police later killed another suspect, Kamel Gadhgadhi, in Rowad. Gadhgadhi was a senior member of Ansar al-Sharia, which was designated as a terrorist organization in August 2013.
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