While the first hearings of the CCAT (operational organ of the pro-independence party Union Caledonienne-FLNKS) officials before the investigating judges are due to take place in September, the Noumea prosecutor announced on Thursday 12 September that he had rejected the request for a change of venue for the proceedings. Lawyers and magistrates at the Noumea headquarters have been demanding since the beginning of the investigation the relocation of the criminal proceedings against the separatists, accused of being the sponsors of the riots that hit New Caledonia.
“All the arguments that have been raised, from my point of view, are not relevant arguments”Bruno Dalles explained during an interview given on Thursday to local radio RRB. The magistrate denied in particular the accusations of bias made by these lawyers, recalling that “The whole debate is whether CCAT is, in whole or in part, a criminal organization”.
On September 2, lawyers for eight of the thirteen defendants, jailed in mainland France, called for such a change of scenery, denouncing the “bias of the prosecutor in ignoring the presumption of innocence”expressed through his public statements by the Noumea prosecutor, Yves Dupas.
The Noumea judges also want this change of scenery. After a general assembly decided in July, the CFDT judges referred the matter to the Higher Council of the Judiciary (CSM) on Thursday, September 5. For her, “A case that generated more than one billion euros in direct damages falls under the jurisdiction of a specialized court”, If we want to respect equality before the law, because the court of Noumea seems “Completely ill-equipped” and does not have sufficient means of investigation.
They have the option of appealing to the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation. Several of them told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that they would consult on Friday before communicating. The risk of this highly political issue becoming bogged down is high.
