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But there are a few hints of the sort of country Tunisia might become, or at least might wish to be; some encouraging, others less so.
Seven months after its dictator, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, sloped off to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia has yet to find its political feet. An election to a constituent assembly, scheduled for July, has been postponed until October. The assembly, when finally elected, will draft a constitution within a year. That will prepare the path, finally, for a full election.
The three quarters of Tunisians who would not vote for Nahda are wary. Anecdotal evidence might give them cause to be. An anti-Islamist film director had a film premiere disrupted. Tunis's legalised red-light district has been firebombed. Even with the benefit of their early start, Tunisians are still struggling to define what democracy for them might look like, let alone how to achieve it.
Protesters have accused the former President of using the country's wealth to fund a lavish lifestyle, by controlling the country's biggest businesses and embezzling state assets.
At the trial yesterday, Judge Touhami Hafian said that investigators who searched the presidential palace and Ben Ali's residence found 43 million Tunisian dinars (£19 million) in cash and 1.8kg (9lb) of illegal drugs presumed to be cannabis along with jewellery, archaeological artefacts, and weapons.
Ben Ali has said that the jewellery was gifts given to his wife by foreign dignitaries. "As for the drugs allegedly found, that is a lie and an ignominy. It is absurd and defamatory," he said, adding that the trial has "no goal but to accuse yesterday's President".
Tunisian authorities said that future trials would deal with the more serious charges of plotting against the security of the state and ordering the security services to fire on protesters.
Ben Ali and his inner circle including his wife currently face 93 charges, of which 35 will be referred to a military court.
Hundreds of protesters stood outside the courtroom demanding that Ben Ali be brought back to Tunisia. Saudi Arabia has not responded to an extradition request, stating that Ben Ali agreed not to undertake any political activity when he arrived in Jeddah.
Outside the courtroom, several hundred protesters chanted "How long will he be allowed to flee?" Some protesters demanded that Ben Ali be sentenced to death.
Lawyers in Egypt were closely watching the trial, as a similar legal case is being prepared against Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian President.
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