In Marseille, the trial of the “Arrow Baga» just ended after three weeks. A Nigerian “cult”, in fact a criminal gang with ultra-violent operations. The defendants were tried for pimping, rape and even illegal immigration networks.
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For the thirteen defendants aged 22 to 37, the sentences range from 3 to 10 years in prison for gang rape, pimping aggravated by the use of coercion, possession of weapons or participation in illegal immigration networks. . The majority of the accused received 10 years, the maximum sentence that the criminal court can impose, a relief for the civil parties. “ I am relatively satisfied because the sentences handed down were very high », breathes Jennifer Attanasio, lawyer for the civil parties. Even if the victims will remain scarred for life.
The victims were absent during the three weeks of the trial, due to lack of means to travel, out of fear or because they fled Marseille. On the first day, a 22-year-old woman had the courage to defy the law of silence, her face hidden. She described being kidnapped, forced to prostitute herself, and threatened with weapons.
From El Dorado to Hell
“ We are going to show them, as is often the case, “the French El Dorado”, explains Alain Lhote, lawyer for the civil parties. “Come to France, it’s magnificent, you’ll see, you’ll be a hairdresser, you’ll be a hostess”…And in reality, they end up on the Marseille sidewalk… » These victims are very young women, sometimes minors. In Nigeria, these organized gangs show them all the wonders, but as soon as they leave their family, the trap closes and begins with a migratory journey strewn with trauma. Once they arrive in Europe, they are sequestered, deprived of their papers and forced to abandon their bodies for 5, 10 or 20 euros. Alain Lhote refuses to talk about “prostitutes ” but good ” slave victims of human trafficking “.
Their enslavement is carefully calculated, notably via the rite of djoudjou, carried out in Nigeria and according to which any act of disobedience results in a curse. “ They are really afraid that a bad spell will be cast on their family and on them. So, it’s extremely difficult to speak and even when they speak, it’s like there’s a sword of Damocles hanging over their head. », explains Laure, a social worker.
But the silence of these women is not only due to beliefs. To coerce their victims, pimps use knives and machetes. Gang rape, lasting hours and without a condom, is used to break these women and serves as punishment… On the first day of the trial, a woman, with her face hidden, told the Court that she tried to escape, but that she was caught and burned with an iron. These women have a constant fear of dying.
SO, ” this verdict is a strong message sent to the victims ”, according to Jennifer Attanasio. “ We say: No, it is not possible to take these young women, bring them under false pretenses and put them on the sidewalk, coerced and forced. » Laure agrees: “ Without strong sentences, girls will not trust the justice system and will always remain silent. » Young women will be compensated up to 35,000 euros. The association L’amicale du Nid, which supported and accompanied these young women until the trial, will also be compensated.
An estimated 45,000 Nigerian women are transported to Europe to become sex slaves each year.
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Mafia gang
For the defense, the maximum sentences of 10 years, handed down by the criminal court, may sound like a defeat. The trial could have been handled by the Assizes, competent to judge crimes and with maximum sentences of 20 years, but the investigating judge decided otherwise. “ The defense had almost lost the lead with a virtual certainty of guilt. And, at the same time, won since the sentences are halved from the start of the trial », Confides Adrien Mawas, defense lawyer. For him, ” this correctionalization was a desire not to provide justice with the necessary means for people whom it considers do not deserve it. We settled for a very poorly done investigation, that’s what transpired in the audience. »
A judgment at the Assizes which stunned everyone. “ You are dealing, in reality, with a mafia, in the same way as the Camorra, the ‘Ndrangheta which brewed between 30 and 50 million euros over three years », Estimates Alain Lhote. Defendants have defined roles, “ and then there are additional activities such as drug trafficking, cybercrime… We are exactly in classic mafia behavior », he analyzes again.
These gangs come directly from the “cults” very present in Nigeria and which developed in France.
The “cults” are groups which have a double filiation of secret societies, a very widespread phenomenon in Nigeria (…), and at the same time student fraternities. So “cultist” groups are criminal groups who are service providers, who perform services for one cause or another but who do not have their own ideology.
Bénédicte Lavaud-Legendre, lawyer and researcher at the CNRS
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