Seven independence activists accused of inciting lethal riots in New Caledonia have been despatched to mainland France for pre-trial detention, a neighborhood prosecutor mentioned Sunday.
“This transfer was organized during the night by means of a plane specially chartered for the mission,” Yves Dupas, the general public prosecutor within the territory’s capital Noumea, mentioned in an announcement.
The seven have been despatched to mainland France, he added, “due to the sensitivity of the procedure and in order to allow the investigations to continue in a calm manner, free of any pressure.”
Among the seven detainees was Christian Tein, head of the pro-independence group CCAT, who was charged Saturday over the current violence through which 9 folks died, together with two police.
Hundreds extra have been wounded, and round 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of harm was inflicted through the unrest over controversial voting reforms.
Authorities didn’t instantly specify what costs Tein faces.
His lawyer Pierre Ortent mentioned Saturday he was “stupefied” that his consumer was being despatched to France, accusing magistrates of “answering to purely political considerations.”
Riots, road barricades and looting broke out in New Caledonia in May over an electoral reform that will have allowed long-term residents to take part in native polls.
The archipelago’s Indigenous Kanaks feared the transfer would dilute their vote, placing hopes for ultimately profitable independence definitively out of attain.
France’s authorities repeatedly accused Tein’s CCAT of orchestrating the violence, a cost the group has denied.
Source: www.dailysabah.com