The speaker of Tunisia’s defunct parliament and arch-rival of President Kais Saied was released late Thursday, his lawyer said, after facing trial on money laundering charges and “incitement to violence”.

Rached Ghannouchi, who also heads the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, which dominated Tunisian politics for a decade until Saied staged a power grab in mid-2021, was previously questioned on the case in July.

Other Ennahdha members are also being prosecuted for suspicious transactions with Instalingo, a digital content production company.

The company has been under investigation for alleged “conspiracy against state security” and incitement to violence since last year.

After a 14-hour hearing, the coroner released Ghannouchi, his lawyer Sami Triki said, adding that no date had been set for the next hearing.

Earlier in the day, the 81-year-old arrived at court in the coastal city of Sousse, where he told journalists the case was an “empty file” and a “made-up problem”.

“This is fabricated and aims to distract the Tunisian people from the real problems we are facing,” he said.

Ghannouchi has slammed Saied’s takeover of power in July 2021, in which the president sacked the Ennahdha-backed government and seized full executive powers.

Saied also dissolved Parliament and pushed through a constitution that gave his own office nearly unlimited powers.

Ghannouchi and other Ennahdha officials are also on trial in another case known as “deportation of jihadists” to conflict zones, which has been at the center of political debate for years and has recently resurfaced.

Ennahdha denies all allegations against its members.

In July, judges froze Ghannouchi’s Tunisian bank accounts and those of several relatives and members of his party.

This comes after a court issued a travel ban on him in May as part of an investigation into the 2013 killing of two prominent left-wing figures.