Tunis/Tunisia — Meeting on Wednesday Justice Minister Leila Jaffel, President Kais Saïed spoke of the backlog of cases pending before the courts.

"It's time to settle the cases that have been pending before the courts for more than a decade," pleaded the Head of State, quoted in a Presidency of the Republic press release.

President Saïed further urged sitting judges to assume their "historic responsibility" to purge the country of the sprawling networks that continue to plague the country, and are often subservient to foreign interests.

The President of the Republic also issued instructions to initiate legal proceedings against anyone who has contributed to the sabotage and looting of a number of establishments and companies, pointing out that there is ample evidence to suggest that these establishments had been deliberately bankrupted in order to hand them over to a handful of lobbies, notably since the entry into force of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Tunisia.