On October 2, 2026, Boutheina Ben Yaghlane will have spent an entire year in prison. A former CEO of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), former Secretary of State for Finance, and academic, she has been in custody since October 2, 2025, as part of an investigation being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Unit.
One year after her incarceration, no conviction has been handed down against her. No public trial has been announced. The specific charges against her, the evidence cited against her, and the concrete reasons that would still justify keeping her in prison are not precisely known.
A case stemming from the management of the CDC
In late September 2025, the prosecutor’s office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Division launched an investigation into the management of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. The investigation concerns allegations of financial and administrative corruption, as well as the circumstances under which loans, financing, and credit facilities were allegedly granted to private companies.
This is a wide-ranging case. The press has reported that more than forty people are involved, including former officials from the Ministry of Finance. The Court of Auditors had also identified shortcomings and procedural failures in the management of the CDC. However, governance failures at an institution, however serious they may be, are not sufficient to establish the personal criminal liability of a specific individual.
A thorough investigation was therefore necessary. It was intended to determine each individual’s responsibility, based on specific facts, identified decisions, and evidence examined through cross-examination. It was not intended to become a mechanism for prolonged imprisonment without trial.
The Stages of the Case
On October 1, 2025, the investigating judge issued arrest warrants for businessman Ahmed Abdelkéfi and a former high-ranking official linked to the Ministry of Finance in connection with the same case.
The next day, October 2, 2025, Boutheina Ben Yaghlane was, in turn, placed under a detention order. She was then taken into pretrial detention in connection with a case involving her tenure as head of the CDC, a position she held from April 2016 to August 2021.
On March 29, 2026, the investigating judge ordered an initial four-month extension of his pretrial detention, as well as that of the former official from the Ministry of Finance involved in the proceedings.
In late July 2026, a second four-month extension was granted. During that time, Ahmed Abdelkéfi was released on bail of 25 million dinars. Boutheina Ben Yaghlane, however, remained in prison.
To date, there is no reliable public information to confirm that she has been brought before a court or that a trial date has been set.
Pretrial detention cannot become a sentence
Under Tunisian law, pretrial detention is an exceptional measure. It can be justified only on specific grounds: to prevent a suspect from fleeing, to prevent obstruction of the investigation, or to address a concrete need in the investigation. It must be justified and subject to review.
However, Boutheina Ben Yaghlane has been in custody for a year. The investigating judge has had ample time to gather the documents, interview the relevant individuals, and conduct the necessary expert evaluations. There is no justification for the silence regarding the specific charges and the lack of a trial to continue indefinitely.
Keeping a woman in prison—who has a known place of residence, an academic career, a history of public service, and clear family ties—must be justified under exceptional circumstances. It cannot be based on the media attention surrounding a case, on general suspicions, or on the need to project an image of fighting corruption to the public.
A female inmate who is all too often forgotten
Boutheina Ben Yaghlane is today one of the female prisoners whose name is all too rarely mentioned. Her political career, her former membership in Ennahdha, and the controversies surrounding the past decade must not deprive her of the basic protections to which every person is entitled.
Demanding one’s freedom does not mean denying the need to fight corruption. It means refusing to allow pretrial detention to become a premature conviction and the preliminary investigation to take the place of a trial.
We demand the immediate release of Boutheina Ben Yaghlane, subject to judicial supervision if the court deems such safeguards necessary. If specific charges exist, they must be presented and examined in a fair trial. If no charges exist or if the charges are insufficient, she must be released without delay.
After a year in detention without trial, Boutheina Ben Yaghlane’s release is a matter of justice.
