Guest of the 7:30 p.m. television news, the public prosecutor Yves Dupas detailed the statistics relating to the judicial treatment of the riots.
It occupies much less media time than in the first months of the riots. However, the judicial treatment of the riots continues, almost six months after the start of the abuses. Guest of the 7:30 p.m. television news this Thursday, November 7, the public prosecutor Yves Dupas wanted to return to what he describes as “judicial marathon”.
“The prosecution is on the front line with a very clear direction: justice must come for all those who participated in these abuses, whether they are perpetrators or sponsors. We are not giving up on the exploitation of the elements in these numerous procedures”he assured.
According to the public prosecutor, 2,500 police custody measures, including 10% concerning minors, have so far been taken since May 13.
They gave rise to 632 court summonses and 490 referrals, a term used to designate the presentation of a person before a judicial authority. In addition to these referrals, 236 committal warrants, ordering placement or maintenance in pre-trial detention, were issued.
The arrest of individuals does not necessarily lead to their imprisonment. 515 alternative measures have thus been put in place: these may include awareness-raising courses, compensation for the victim’s damage or even a ban on appearing in certain places.
In total, 485 cases were closed, most of them due to “insufficiently characterized offense”, and a minority because of irregularities noted during the procedure.
The investigation into the sponsors of the abuses, for its part, is continuing. She is “still in progress, conducted by two investigating magistrates at the Nouméa court of first instance”. The question of the disorientation of the case remains unresolved, the lawyers of the incarcerated activists having appealed against the decision of the prosecutor general of the Nouméa Court of Appeal Bruno Dalles.
The instructions concerning the deaths of several people should be “spread out over time”warned Yves Dupas. “These are serious facts and complex procedures. This requires at least 18 to 24 months of judicial information in such a complicated context”he concluded.
