Judge Touhami Hafi also fined the exiled ex-leader 25 million euros. (AAP)
Toppled Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and his wife were sentenced in absentia Monday to 35 years in prison each in a trial for misappropriating public funds, a judge said.
Judge Touhami Hafi also fined the exiled ex-leader 50 million dinars (25 million euros) and his wife Leila Trabelsi 41 million dinars on the first day of the trial.
He postponed a trial in a second case until June 30 to allow Ben Ali's lawyers more time to prepare their defence.
Ben Ali and Trabelsi were charged with embezzlement after the discovery of money and jewellery in their palace in the outskirts of Tunis.
The second case, targetting Ben Ali only, involves weapons and drugs allegedly found in a presidential residence in Carthage.
Ben Ali denied all the charges in advance of the trial through his lawyer Akram Azouri.
The former president, his wife and their two children fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia in January at the climax of the first of the Arab uprisings.
Ben Ali "strongly denied all charges they are trying to press as he never possessed the sums of money they claimed to have found in his office", his Beirut-based lawyer Akram Azoury said on Sunday.
Following the prosecutors, Ben Ali's court appointed lawyers requested more time to prepare their defence adding that the court should have been more "diplomatic" in convincing Ben Ali, who lives in Saudi exile since fleeing the country on January 14, to attend the court hearings.
The trial was sometimes interrupted by the shouts of about 50 people assembled outside the court building, some in support of the trial, others deploring the absence of the former president.
"What are they putting on trial? Air? This makes no sense," said Mohamed Salah Zaalouni, a waiter who works opposite the criminal court.
Meanwhile several newspapers dubbed the trial as historic on Monday.
"For the first time in our long history, a president-come bloody and predatory dictator will be judged," said Tunis-Hebdo.
Monday's trial is only the beginning of a long legal process that may see top members of Ben Ali's regime in the dock over allegations including murder, torture, money laundering and trafficking of archaeological artefacts.
Of the 93 charges Ben Ali and his inner circle face, 35 will be referred to the military court, justice ministry spokesman Kadhem Zine El Abidine has said.
A murder or torture conviction by the military court carries the death penalty, though Ben Ali is not expected to face these charges.
Military justice system chief, Colonel Major Marwane Bouguerra, said former interior minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem may find himself named in cases linked to 300 civilian deaths in protests between December 17 and January 14.http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=dvd+with+media+on+it&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Ben Ali - accompanied by his wife, his daughter Halima, 18, and his son Mohammed Zine El Abidine, 6 - left Tunisia for Saudi Arabia in January where he has remained ever since.
On Monday, in a statement that didn't refer to the trial, Ben Ali denied that he had intended to go into exile.
"I did not abandon my post as president nor did I flee Tunisia, as some media have falsely reported," read a statement released by Azoury, his Beirut lawyer.
Ben Ali said he had been advised by his security chief Ali Al-Soryati to leave Tunisia on January 14 because of fears of an assassination plot.
He said he had bundled his family on to a plane that took them to Saudi Arabia and had explicitly instructed the pilot to wait for him at Jeddah airport.
"But after arriving in Jeddah the plane turned around and headed back to Tunis, disobeying my instructions," he said.
The dramatic departure came less than a month after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor who was complaining of unemployment, unleashed already-simmering popular anger against Ben Ali.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal has said the kingdom gave refuge to Ben Ali on condition he would not use it as a base for political activities.
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