Tangier Mayor and Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) provincial official Mounir Lymouri underwent hours of detailed questioning by an investigating judge at the Tangier Court of Appeal over a case involving ballot papers from Morocco’s Sept. 23 legislative elections.
Sources cited by Hespress said the questioning focused on the details of the controversial case, in which Lymouri is being prosecuted alongside seven other people. The judge is expected to question the mayor again next week to continue examining the allegations against him.
The latest hearing took place Wednesday, after a previous session scheduled for Oct. 13 was postponed at the request of Lymouri’s defense team. His lawyers had argued that his health condition at the time did not allow him to adequately respond to the investigating judge’s questions.
Lymouri faces charges including interfering with voting operations with the aim of changing or attempting to change election results, participating in the falsification of an official document, and bribery through an offer, promise or gift intended to secure an act.
According to Hespress sources, the charges were brought under Article 58 of Organic Law No. 27.11 on the House of Representatives, as well as Articles 352, 353, 251 and 129 of Morocco’s Criminal Code.
The investigating judge ordered Lymouri’s pretrial detention under Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The PAM official was placed in pretrial detention on Oct. 2, after spending approximately 72 hours in police custody. He had been arrested at Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport shortly after arriving from the Spanish city of Malaga, following the issuance of a national arrest warrant in connection with the case.
Investigation into ballot papers and hotel surveillance footage
The case dates back to election day on Sept. 23, when a person was reportedly found carrying a bag containing ballot papers linked to a polling station at Al-Quds School in Tangier’s Casabarata neighborhood.
Investigators subsequently examined the origin of the ballot papers and the circumstances surrounding their removal from, and return to, the polling station.
The investigation led to a hotel establishment in Tangier, where evidence reportedly placed Lymouri alongside several other individuals.
Technical examinations enabled investigators to recover deleted surveillance camera footage and examine mobile phones, communications and other seized items.
According to information from the investigation, the recovered footage and technical analyses linked two bags seen inside the hotel establishment to the two bags seized as part of the case.
Investigators also identified communications between Lymouri and other suspects before and on election day, according to the same sources.
The detailed questioning is expected to help determine the next steps in the investigation. The allegations remain subject to the judicial process.
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