The Noumea Attorney General indicated on Thursday, September 12, that he had rejected the request to transfer the proceedings against officials from the field action coordination unit (CCAT), accused of being the instigators of the riots that affected New Caledonia. This request had been made by their lawyers, who feared the bias of the magistrates of the Noumea judicial court.
3 min
New milestone reached in the crisis shaking the New CaledoniaThe courts have finally rejected the request to transfer the proceedings against pro-independence activists accused, among other things, of orchestrating the riots on the island.
The request to refer this case to another jurisdiction was made by eight of the thirteen persons charged, five of whom are incarcerated in France hexagonal. All are members of the field action coordination cell (CCAT), accused of having orchestrated the riots.
The lawyers who filed the petition denounce ” the competition of political and judicial interests does not guarantee the conduct of a judicial investigation respecting the principles of independence and impartiality ” They aimed to ” numerous public statements by the public prosecutor to the effect that the CCAT would necessarily be “responsible” for the actions committed in New Caledonia in violation of the principle of the presumption of innocence “.
Accusations refuted by the prosecutor
” All the arguments that have been raised, in my view, are not relevant arguments. “, explained the attorney general of the Noumea Court of Appeal Bruno Dalles during an interview granted Thursday to the local radio station RRB to justify the decision of the justice. The magistrate notably refuted the accusations of bias made by these lawyers, recalling that ” The whole debate is whether the CCAT is, in whole or in part, a criminal organization. “.
This refusal ” is not a surprise ” And ” The Attorney General does not respond usefully to any of the points raised “, ten lawyers for the activists reacted in a press release, indicating that they were contacting the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation. They also stressed that ” interference by the public prosecutor in the defence of detained persons “, ” symptomatic ” according to them of the ” political treatment of this file “.
Also readThe resurgence of tension in New Caledonia demonstrates “a profound social identity crisis”
“ Sensitivity of the procedure »
This legal procedure comes after the violence that began on May 13 in New Caledonia. Violence of an unprecedented scale since the quasi-civil war of the 1980s. Eleven people, including two gendarmes, were killed, hundreds of people injured and the material damage is colossal, estimated at at least 2.2 billion euros. Tensions remain high. Restrictions on alcohol sales, a curfew and a ban on gatherings are still in effect in the South Pacific archipelago.
Since June 19, thirteen independence activists have been arrested, Seven are currently incarcerated, including Christian Tein. The leader of the CCAT, recently appointed president of the FLNKS independence alliance, was transferred to a prison in mainland France. The transfer had been organized during one night using a specially chartered plane, explained the public prosecutor Yves Dupas, arguing that ” sensitivity of the procedure “and the need to continue investigations” in a calm manner, without any pressure or fraudulent consultation “.
The authorities accuse the CCAT, born in November 2023, of having organized the violence which shook the archipelago in response to the vote in Paris of an electoral reform accused by the separatists of marginalizing the indigenous Kanak population. The people arrested were indicted on several counts, including complicity in attempted murder, armed robbery by an organized gang, destruction by an organized gang of the property of others by means dangerous to people and participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime.
Also readNew Caledonia: what is the outcome three months after the start of the riots?