Tunisian opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi Tunis – Azhar Jarboui Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki declared Friday as a national mourning day after the assassination of opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi outside of his house, and vowed to prevent the “criminal scheme” that is to destroy the democratic process in Tunisia.
Marzouki addressed the country in a televised speech Thursday, where he condemned the crime which, he said “aims to sow discord in the country.\"
\"We will face the security challenge and all murderers will be brought to justice,\" Marzouki said.
Marzouki said the assassination, which coincided with Republic Day, is not \"an accident but a premeditated act aimed to destabilise the country and disrupt the political consensus that has emerged during the final phase of the process of democratic transition.\"
He said the aim of the killers \"who have nothing to do with Islam,\" is to terminate the Arab Spring which has seen more success in Tunisia than in other countries.
Meanwhile Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said in a press conference that the same weapon used to assassinate Brahmi on Thursday was used in the assassination of another politician in February.
Jeddou said ballistic examination of the bullets fired Thursday at Brahmi showed they came from the same gun used to kill leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid five months earlier.
Two men on a moped shot Brahmi 14 times in front of his home as he was getting in his car. Belaid was killed in a similar fashion.
Ben Jeddou said the same Islamist extremist cell behind Belaid\'s killing was behind Brahmi\'s assassination.