Election fraud in Tangier: Court to resume questioning of Mayor Limouri next week
Tangier Court has begun detailed questioning of suspects in a case involving alleged ballot paper manipulation during the 23 September legislative elections, with Mayor Munier Limouri expected to appear before the investigating judge next week.
Tangier Court questions polling station heads in election fraud case
Four detained suspects appeared on Thursday before the investigating judge at Tangier Court in connection with a case involving alleged manipulation of ballot papers during the legislative elections held on 23 September.
According to Hespress, the four suspects who underwent questioning are heads and deputy heads of two polling stations at Al-Quds School in the Casbah Ras Al-Maïna neighbourhood of Tangier, the two stations at the centre of the incident that sparked the investigation.
The case involves eight people in total, including Tangier's mayor and regional coordinator of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, Munier Limouri, who is currently in preventive detention. The investigating judge conducted confrontations between the suspects in an effort to clarify the circumstances of the case.
Defence lawyers requested an adjournment to review the case file, with the exception of one defendant, prompting the judge to order a postponement of detailed questioning for all defendants until next week, the date on which Limouri is expected to appear before the court.
Limouri has been charged with multiple offences, according to information gathered by Hespress, including: disrupting electoral procedures with the aim of altering or attempting to alter election results, participation in forging an official document, and bribery through offers, promises or gifts intended to obtain official action. These charges are based on Article 58 of the organic law relating to the Chamber of Deputies and provisions of the criminal code.
The judge ordered his preventive detention following the first questioning, after he spent approximately 72 hours in police custody following his arrest at Tangier Ibn Battuta Airport upon his return from Malaga, Spain, under a national search bulletin related to the case.
The case began on polling day, 23 September, when a person was found carrying a bag containing ballot papers linked to a polling station at Al-Quds School. The authorities launched an immediate investigation to determine how these papers were removed from the station and how they were returned.
The investigation later extended to a Tangier hotel, where reports indicated Limouri was present with other individuals. Technical examinations included recovery of surveillance camera footage that had been deleted, as well as analysis of mobile phones, communications and seized materials.
According to the information provided by Hespress, investigators concluded that recovered footage and technical analysis linked two bags that appeared in the hotel to two bags seized in connection with the case, and they also identified communications between Limouri and a number of suspects before and during polling day.
The charges brought in the ongoing judicial investigation remain in place, and no convictions have yet been issued against any of the suspects.
Source: Hespress