From the Mulhouse penitentiary, the Kanak leader Christian Tein declared himself to be “a political prisoner”.
The latter is imprisoned in France, just like six other independence activists after the recent riots.
From Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) where he is incarcerated, the Kanak leader and spokesperson for the Cellule de coordination des actions de terrain (CCAT), Christian Tein, declared on July 1 that he was “a political prisoner and the first to be extradited in this way with (his) comrades”. Comments reported by AFP, which was able to attend a meeting between the independence activist and two senators, elected officials Jacques Fernique and Anne Souyris.
Support demonstration on June 29
On June 29, some 200 people demonstrated in Mulhouse in support of Christian Tein. The latter was indicted and placed in pretrial detention, notably on charges of complicity in attempted murder and criminal association with a view to preparing a crime. This follows more than a month of violence in New Caledonia against the reform of the electoral body, since buried with the dissolution of the National Assembly. The Kanak leader, one of the most prominent figures in the mobilization against the reform, is suspected of having called for violence.
Eleven pro-independence activists were arrested on June 19. Nine of them were placed in pretrial detention, including seven in various prisons across France. The violence, the most serious to have occurred in the archipelago since the 1980s, left nine dead, according to the latest figures from the authorities, as well as considerable material damage.
