A court in Tunisia on Wednesday sentenced former President Moncef Marzouki in absentia to four years in prison for “assaulting the external security of the state” after he accused Tunisian President Kais Saied of staging a coup, TAP state news agency said. 

From 2011 to 2014, Marzouki was president of Tunisia, a country often held up as the Arab Spring’s sole success story. In October, the Paris-based former president told a rally in the French capital that France should cut off support for Saeid’s government and “reject any support for this regime and this man who has plotted against the revolution and abolished the constitution.” 

In a thinly veiled reference to Marzouki days later, Saied condemned “traitors that seek refuge overseas.” He withdrew Marzouki’s diplomatic passport and ordered an investigation. 

The following month, Tunisia issued an arrest warrant for Marzouki, who authorities claimed had undermined Tunisia’s security. Marzouki said he was “not concerned by any decision issued by these illegitimate authorities” but described the warrant as “a threatening message to all Tunisians.”