the trial of the detainees opened this Thursday in Mayotte

A month and a half after the mutiny that occurred at Majicavo prison on September 28, ten inmates were tried for these facts this Thursday, November 14. They are accused of violence, destruction, rebellion and kidnapping for some of them. One of the guards was stoned and surrounded by detainees, one of whom was armed with an iron bar. Another agent had locked himself in a cupboard when a fire was lit at his feet. In front of the door, the inmates sang a death song.

“That day I thought I was going to dier,” a supervisor tells the audience. “It was difficult, I thought of my children“He assures us: nothing foreshadowed these facts.”It was something that happened on the spot“, confirms one of the defendants while denying having participated in a hostage-taking. “Preventing a person from coming and going and moving them under duress is clearly kidnapping.“, replies the president of the court. Others recognize the facts, and even admit that rumors have been circulating on this subject for several days.

During this first morning of the hearing, the defendants focused little on the alleged facts, but rather on their daily lives and the conditions of detention within the prison. “The officers put themselves in blind spots and hit us handcuffed, I'm not the only one to have suffered this“, denounces one inmate. Others mention the sometimes absence of meals or provocations from guards. “This hearing is not a forum to denounce the conditions of detention“, the judge warned from the outset. “It is not by doing such violent things or worse that we resolve things.“An inmate contradicts her:”It was useful for something! Since the riot we have received our orders: our TVs, soaps for everyone, sandwiches. It has changed.”

Some defendants face up to 20 years in prison, in addition to the sentence they are currently serving. Following this revolt, several agents were placed on sick leave while unions called for the right to withdraw, to denounce prison overcrowding in Mayotte. Several measures have been taken since then, such as the transfer of detainees to France. Departures which still remain too rare according to FO Pénitentiaire. The union wrote to the Minister of Justice on Tuesday to request the chartering of a dedicated plane.

An outcome without injuries to the mutiny at Majicavo prison: listen to the explanations of Sabry Hani, secretary general of the prefecture, General Lucien Barth, Commander of the gendarmerie, and Yann Le Bris, public prosecutor of Mayotte.