Several Caledonian independence activists, including the head of the CCAT independence cell Christian Tein, suspected of having orchestrated the riots, will be placed in pre-trial detention in mainland France, their lawyers announced on Saturday June 22. The latter said to themselves “ stunned “.
4 mins
Christian Tein and several other Caledonian independence activists, suspected by the courts of being the instigators of the riots which tore apart the ” Pebble » since mid-February, will join the metropolis, by force. The news was announced by their lawyers this Saturday. These decisions were taken by a judge of freedoms and detention (JLD), called upon to rule on the fate of the 11 people arrested on Wednesday, including Mr. Teinconsidered the leader of the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT).
🔴 Christian Tein, considered the leader of the CCAT, is placed in pre-trial detention at the Mulhouse remand center. his transfer to the Metropolis is imminent according to his lawyer “stunned” by the decision to send him 17,000 km from the #New Caledonia
— Charlotte Mannevy (@CMannevy) June 22, 2024
Prosecutor Yves Dupas confirmed to AFP “ assignments in mainland France », without further details following these closed-door appearances before the JLD in Nouméa. The charges were not specified. The investigation targets in particular acts of criminal association, armed thefts by an organized gang, complicity by instigation of murders or attempted murders of persons holding public authority.
Procedures “ exceptional »
Mr. Tein must be incarcerated in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) according to his counsel, Me Pierre Ortent, who expressed his “ stupor “. “ No one had prior information that the destination would be the metropolis. These are perfectly exceptional procedures in relation to the territory “, he insisted. Before adding “ do not have information as to the exact date of the transfer ” in a city.
Another suspect, CCAT communications officer Brenda Wanabo, must be placed in detention in Dijon, according to her lawyer, Me Thomas Gruet, who said: extremely shocked and stunned “. Mother of three children, the youngest of whom is four years old, this activist “ who never called for violence “, will be separated from her family and is ” destroyed “, he stressed. For Me Gruet, “ all the errors in the management of the crisis were made by the judicial institution “, who has ” responded to purely political considerations “.
Read alsoNew Caledonia: very relative return to normal, access to the international airport disrupted
As for Frédérique Muliava, chief of staff to the President of the Congress of New Caledonia Roch Wamytan, she must be incarcerated in Riom, near Clermont-Ferrand, according to her lawyer, Me Christelle Affoué.
“ If it was a question of making them martyrs to the independence cause, we wouldn’t do it any other way. »
“ If it was a question of making them martyrs to the independence cause, we wouldn’t do it any other way. », Commented Me Stéphane Bonomo, lawyer for another defendant, Gilles Joredie. Joël Tjibaou, one of the sons of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, president of the FLNKS assassinated in 1989, will have his fate decided on Tuesday at the latest, said his lawyer Claire Ghiani. In the meantime, he was placed in detention in Nouméa.
Arriving at the Nouméa courthouse on Friday shortly before 8 p.m. UT (Saturday at 7 a.m. local time), the 11 arrested were, for some of them, able to see for a few moments their loved ones who had come to support them. Christian Tein’s wife burst into tears after being able to kiss her husband. Brenda Wanabo’s lawyer returned shortly before midnight with a large pink suitcase containing some things for his client, before her departure for mainland France.
Law Project ” suspended » after the dissolution of the National Assembly
These decisions come six weeks after the start of the violence which agitates the French territory of the South Pacific, the most serious since that of the 1980s. Fueled by the vote of a constitutional bill aimed at expanding the Caledonian electoral body for the provincial election scheduled for the end of 2024, these riots left nine dead, including two gendarmes, hundreds of injured and considerable damage. The cost is estimated at 1.5 billion eurosaccording to the latest report.
The bill that ignited the powder was, however, “ suspended » on June 12 by Emmanuel Macron, following the dissolution of the National Assembly.
The decision to incarcerate in preventive detention the head Kanak of the cell coordinating field actions in Caledonia, 17,000 kilometers from his family, is an alienation of his rights and a gross and dramatic political error.
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) June 22, 2024
In a letter to Caledonians published on Tuesday, Mr. Macron demanded “ the firm and definitive lifting of all roadblocks » in the archipelago and « the condemnation of violence without pretense “. The situation ” remains unacceptable and those who encouraged it will have to answer for their actions », insisted the head of state, who went there on May 23 for an express visit.
The decision to incarcerate Mr. Tein “ 17,000 km from his family “, is a “ alienation of his rights and a gross and dramatic political error », Judged Saturday on X, the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon.