TUNIS (AFP) – Tunisia’s deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader toppled in a wave of Arab uprisings, went on trial in his absence on Monday, accused of plundering the country among other charges.

Ben Ali “strongly denies 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.

The former strongman, who faces charges related to theft, drugs and weapons, fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 in the face of a popular uprising against his 23-year rule and is to be tried over some 93 cases against him and his entourage.