Belhassen Trabelsi ( ar, بلحسن الطرابلسي; born 5 November 1962) is a
Tunisian businessman. He is the brother of
Leïla Ben Ali
Leïla Ben Ali ( ar, ليلى بن علي, née Trabelsi; born 14 October 1956) is the widow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. She married Ben Ali in 1992.
Leïla Ben Ali was the president of the Ara ...
, wife of former President
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...
.
[Robin Wigglesworth, 'US warns of ‘flow of illicit assets’ from Tunisia', 20 January 2011, '']Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'
/ref>
Career
He sat on the Board of Banque de Tunisie
The Banque de Tunisie ( ar, البنك التونسي, en, Bank of Tunisia) is a bank in Tunisia, the first established in the country in modern times. It has been listed in the Bourse de Tunis since 1990.Oxford Business Group, ''Tunisia, 2009 ( ...
. He owned 65% of KoralBlue Airlines. He also owned the Karthago Group Karthago can refer to:
* Karthago (band), a Hungarian rock band.
* Karthago (German band), a West Berlin–based rock band, pioneers of the Krautrock
* Karthago (musical company), a Belgian musical company, located in Ghent.
* Carthage, the city ...
, including Karthago Airlines
Karthago Airlines was a privately owned airline based in Tunis, Tunisia, operating scheduled charter flights to Europe. Its main base was in Djerba-Zarzis Airport, but most of the flights were out of Tunis-Carthage International Airport.
Hi ...
and Kathago Hotels.[Roulah Kalaf, 'Looters strip homes of Ben Ali relatives', '']Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', 16 January 201
/ref> He became the CEO of Nouvelair
Nouvelair Limited Company (french: Nouvelair Société Anonyme, ar, الطيران الجديد تونس), trading as Nouvelair Tunisie, or simply Nouvelair, is a Tunisian airline with its registered office in Tunis, while its head office in th ...
in 2008. He was a senior official in the now defunct Constitutional Democratic Rally
The Democratic Constitutional Rally or Democratic Constitutional Assembly ( ar, التجمع الدستوري الديمقراطي ', french: Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, sometimes also called Constitutional Democratic Rally in E ...
.
Rumors were widespread about his arrest in Tunisia on 14 January 2011, as he was trying to flee Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
and meet with family members in Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
, France. His house in La Soukra
La Soukra ( ar, سكرة) is a city and commune in the Ariana Governorate, Tunisia. As of 2004 it had a total population of 129,693.
It is located in the center of a vast agricultural plain occupied by orange orchards of which only a few traces ...
, away from Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, has been looted.
However, he later escaped to Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, Canada. On 28 January 2011, Canadian foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, (born December 6, 1947) is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. In early 2006, he was made the Minister of Transport. On October 30, 2008, he relinquished oversight of ...
was quoted as having said that Trabelsi was no longer welcome in Canada and was to be arrested. However, Cannon also went on to say that Trabelsi has applied for refugee status and is therefore entitled to 'due process' under Canadian law, which could take years to settle.
In May 2016, Belhassen Trabelsi was found to be missing by Canadian authorities. He was scheduled to be deported to Tunisia the following day, on 31 May 2016, to start the arbitration process with the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission. In 2019, Belhassen Trabelsi was arrested in Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, France, due to his illegal entry and money laundering, then he was released on a bail. In June 2020, a court in Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille ...
demanded to hand him over to Tunisian authorities.
In January 2021, the Investigation Chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal rejected Tunisia's request to extradite Belhassen Trabelsi. In its judgment, the Court noted not only Belhassen Trabelsi's age and state of health, but also "a real risk of inhuman and degrading treatment for Belhassen Trabelsi and of inadequate controls in the event of ill-treatment in detention".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trabelsi, Belhassen
1962 births
Living people
Tunisian businesspeople
People from Tunis