Revisited:President James Michel is using a
compliant Court to punish people who opposed him.
Bernard Sullivan, a supporter of the SNP, has been confined
to a police jail for nine days on a court order based on a flimsy and
unjustifiable accusation of having made a threat and inciting violence
against the person of the President because of a comment on his Facebook
page.
On March 28, 2011, Sullivan, an avid blogger on Seychelles
politics, had referred to the role of James Michel in the coup d’etat of 1977
on his Facebook page. He had referred to the armed overthrow of the legitimate
government as an act of treason, with a comment which amounted to saying
that Michel should be brought to justice for it.
On June 9 2011, a State prosecutor brought Sullivan
before the Victoria Magistrate’s Court and asked that he be
remanded in custody. The police have stated by an affidavit placed before the
Court that the comment was a threat on the life of the President and said
Sullivan’s incarceration was necessary for them to conduct investigations and
to prevent him from interfering with evidence.
Sullivan’s lawyer, Bernard Georges, argued that the request
was unjustified because the Facebook page had been copied and was available on
the internet outside of Sullivan’s control. There was no other evidence that
Sullivan could interfere with, hesaid, and the police had had over five weeks
to take any action. He pointed out to the Court that the Police had done
nothing since March 28 when the alleged threat was made, which would signify
that they did not consider it to be a threat at all. (Picture: Sullivan led off
to jail)
Georges told the Court that the custody order would be only
a means to punish Sullivan pre-emptively, because no charge would be brought
or, if brought, would never justify conviction.
Magistrate Brassel Adeline, who is a former official of Mr.
Michel’s ruling ‘Parti Lepep’, ordered remand of nine days in police
custody.
Source: SNPseychelles.sc 6-10-11
