Deposed Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali denounced his imminent trial in absentia in a press statement made by his legal representation in France.

Ben Ali expressed that he is tired of being made a scapegoat, in a statement by his lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne, delivered to Agence France-Presse in France.

The fallen North African dictator claimed that he had always ruled in the best interest of the Tunisian people.

After 23 years in power, Ben Ali is currently living in Saudi Arabia with his wife, Leila Trabelsi.

Ben Ali and Trabelsi both face corruption charges.

The Ministry of Justice of the Tunisian government announced that any day now it will conduct a trial-in-absentia for the former leading couple.

In February, the Tunisian Anti-Corruption Commission found 27 million dollars in cash at his palace in Sidi Bou Said, a northern suburb of Tunis, Tunisia's capital.

Authorities report that they found 2 kilograms of unspecified narcotics at Ben Ali's presidential palace in Carthage.

Unemployment among Tunisian youth is reported by various sources to have meandered around 30 percent before the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi and the beginning of the Arab Spring.

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