The courtroom case opens underneath heavy stress | EUROtoday

The two investigating judges answerable for the case of the violence that exploded on May 12 and 13 in New Caledonia, and which has thus far left eleven useless, are resulting from start their hearings through the third week of September. And on Thursday, September 12, the Noumea public prosecutor's workplace will make its resolution on whether or not or to not switch the proceedings to a jurisdiction in mainland France. The case, distinctive in its scope, can also be underneath nice stress.

Opened for participation in a felony affiliation with a view to getting ready crimes and offences (particularly complicity in homicide and destruction by an organised gang), the felony proceedings started with a preliminary investigation on 17 May, earlier than being handed over to the investigation on 20 June. The prosecutions primarily goal Christian Tein, the official spokesperson for the sphere motion coordination unit (CCAT), the operational physique of the pro-independence social gathering Union Calédonienne-FLNKS. Despite his incarceration, Mr Tein was appointed president of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) on Saturday 31 August, throughout a congress contested by the moderates. Along with him, six different CCAT executives who’ve been indicted are being held in mainland France. The hearings will happen in Lyon.

For these activists, the protection attorneys requested, on September 2, the relocation of the case, denouncing particularly the “bias of the public prosecutor in disregard of the presumption of innocence”, expressed in his public statements by the prosecutor of Noumea, Yves Dupas. Requested by the worldMr. Dupas didn’t reply.

Risk of getting slowed down

The judges of Noumea additionally need this modification of surroundings. After a basic meeting that voted on this sense in July, the CFDT-Magistrats even contacted the High Council of the Judiciary on Thursday, September 5. For it, “a case which has generated more than 1 billion euros in direct damages falls under the jurisdiction of a specialized court” if we wish to respect equality earlier than the regulation, as a result of the Noumea courtroom seems “completely under-equipped” and doesn’t have ample technique of investigation. In different phrases, there’s a excessive threat of the case getting slowed down. The CFDT delegate, Emmanuel Poinas, additionally factors out that “neither public safety nor the serenity of justice [sont] guarantees on Caledonian territory”.

The union letter finally mentions a “a political state of affairs that’s advanced to say the least » domestically, which generates “pressures”. On June 6, the 2 heads of the Noumea Court of Appeal had already seized the High Council of the Judiciary to denounce a “unacceptable pressure” due to the “illegal gathering of around a hundred people in front of the Noumea courthouse”. In this case, it was the loyalist activists gathered round their chief, Sonia Backès, who known as for the repression of the CCAT.

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