Fez Prefecture: Court of Appeal Adjourns Post-Cassation Trial of City Mayor to November 9 Amid 2027 Municipal Budget Debates

FES NEWS MEDIA – PREFECTURE OF FEZ: The Appellate Criminal Chamber in charge of financial crimes at the Fez Court of Appeal decided to adjourn examination of the judicial case referred back to it by the Court of Cassation—involving the President of the Fez Municipal Council, Abdeslam Bekkali, and several co-defendants—until the hearing of November 9, 2026, in order to complete legal procedural notifications and allow defense teams to prepare their arguments in accordance with statutory guarantees.

This judicial development comes at a time when the Prefecture of Fez is witnessing intense administrative and municipal activity, as permanent committees and council members examine the draft 2027 municipal budget of the Commune of Fez during the council’s October ordinary session. Discussions within municipal committees are focusing on expanding the commune’s own-source fiscal revenues, rationalizing operating expenditures, and honoring financial commitments toward delegated management companies overseeing sanitation, urban public transport, and street lighting across the city’s six boroughs.

Upgrading Municipal Public Services in Fez Prefecture and Citizens’ Expectations

In the same context, interventions by several municipal councilors—particularly within opposition groups inside the Fez Municipal Council—stressed the urgency of channeling budgetary surpluses toward tangible priorities affecting residents’ daily lives, led by rehabilitating road infrastructure in peripheral neighborhoods, maintaining green spaces, and accelerating structural development projects partnered with the Wilaya of the Fez-Meknes Region and the Fez-Meknes Regional Council in strict compliance with governance standards.

In full alignment with its professional editorial charter and Moroccan press law, Fes News Media reaffirms its strict adherence to the constitutional presumption of innocence guaranteed to all defendants until a final judicial ruling with the force of res judicata is rendered, while keeping the right of reply and clarification fully open to the presidency, majority, and opposition of the Fez Municipal Council regarding local financial and municipal governance matters.