Sentences of up to five years in prison were requested on Tuesday May 17 in Bastia against seven people tried for burning vehicles of prison guards in Borgo (Haute-Corse) and threats against the former director of the penitentiary establishment.
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“
It is the trial of the intolerable, of the abnormality of a penitentiary center
”, of which this file traces “
one of the dark pages
”, assured in his requisitions the prosecutor Arnaud Viornery.
“Three months of violence”
It all starts on June 14, 2020 with an inmate's birthday party, inside the prison, in the presence of guards and with a lot of guitar, songs, chichas, magnums of champagne and videos with cell phones normally prohibited, details the president of the Bastia criminal court.
This celebration will give rise to excavations badly experienced by "
a collective of prisoners
", who "
will try to take power within the penitentiary center
", explains the prosecutor.
During "
three months of violence
", between the excavations of July 5-6, 2020 and mid-October 2020, date of the last fire, "
12 vehicles will be destroyed by fire, the majority in front of the homes of the supervisors
", recalled Arnaud Viornery.
Complaints
“
Four threatening letters will be sent and two tags will be registered, (targeting) eight prison guards and the director at the time
”, added the prosecutor, regretting that all the facts committed have “
alas not been elucidated
” .
In the end, only the fires of five vehicles, two threatening letters and a registration by tag were the subject of the debates on Tuesday.
One of these letters asked the director to transfer or dismiss a supervisor, on pain of reprisals.
The second mail contained a bullet.
Only four civil parties were constituted: two families of supervisors, the former director of the establishment and the legal agent of the State.
“Drifting from extreme violence”
Denouncing “
a file which illustrates a drift of extreme violence, extremely rare against representatives of public authority
”, the prosecutor requested “
five years of imprisonment accompanied by a warrant of committal
” against the main defendant.
Aged 25, this man with 14 convictions on his criminal record is considered one of the sponsors of these acts.
Against a second defendant aged 35, considered to be the driver of several arsonists, three years' imprisonment were required, together with an arrest warrant, the defendant not having appeared at his trial.
Against one of the arsonists, aged 21, who admitted having committed two fires but assured that he was unaware that it concerned prison guards, thinking he was acting in an insurance fraud, three years' imprisonment with a warrant of deposit were required.
Threat “written under duress”
For another 24-year-old arsonist, who also admitted the facts and appointed sponsors, the sentence requested was four years' imprisonment with an arrest warrant.
Absent from the trial, he indicated, through his lawyer, that he feared reprisals.
Against a 29-year-old defendant, accused of being the author of one of the two threatening letters, the prosecutor asked for two years in prison with a warrant of committal.
Finally, for the author of the other threatening letter, which he allegedly wrote "
under duress
", and for another 23-year-old defendant, who admits having provided, but under duress, the paper and the envelope for one of these letters, without knowing their nature, the prosecutor requested “
18 months of imprisonment including six months firm accompanied by a probationary suspension for three years with the obligation of care and work
”.
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For all of the defendants, a ban on appearing for five years in Vescovato, the village of 1,600 inhabitants where one of the vehicle fires took place, was required.
All the lawyers pleaded for release or leniency for their client.
The court retired to deliberate.
