"His fate does not bode that of Serge Atlaoui, sentenced to death in Indonesia"

"There is no direct link between the case of Mr. Blanc and that of Serge Atlaoui " said Saturday, July 21 on Franceinfo Richard Sedillot, the lawyer of Serge Atlaoui, another French imprisoned in Indonesia and sentenced to death since 2007, while Michaël Blanc has left that same Saturday Indonesia, after 14 years spent in prison

franceinfo: This return of Michael White after nearly 20 years of procedure, does that give you hope in the Atlawi case? 19659004] Richard Sedillot : In the first place, I wish, in the name of Mrs. Atlaoui, to say the pleasure she felt when she learned of the release of Michael White. She knows her mother well, whom she has met several times in Indonesia and for whom she has the highest regard. Now, we must clarify and recall that there is no direct link between the file of Mr. Blanc and that of Serge Atlaoui. They are both French, they were both sentenced in Indonesia, but unfortunately, the fate that has been reserved for one does not presage at all the fate that will be reserved for the other. We must also remember that Serge Atlaoui – and this is a big difference – is sentenced to death, so he can not benefit from a remission of sentence, even if his behavior at the prison is absolutely exemplary. and even if we know he is innocent. Today, he remains condemned to death.

Can you remind us how Serge Atlaoui found himself on death row in Indonesia?

He was a welder and then one day a relationship offered to go to work in Indonesia and tell him that it was going to be a fairly short job, extremely difficult, physically horrible but with a remuneration that would be rather correct. We are very far from what traffickers can perceive, even small drug traffickers. He went there. He was asked to weld a machine, the use of which is extremely common in industry. He worked on that machine and then one day, the police landed and it was learned that what the plant in question was making was not acrylic – as it was told – but MDMA, which is the basic molecule of ecstasy. That's how things happened. Serge Atlaoui is someone who had never been sentenced and there is nothing in the file that would suggest that he knew what was going on.

Serge Atlaoui has been here for 11 years now in prison in Indonesia, when you see the Michael White file that lasted almost 20 years, do you think that there is still hope to change the Atlaoui file?

Whether Serge or Sabine, his wife, or me, or anyone close to them, we always have hope. Serge is a man whose courage dazzles me. I went to see him last year, about the same time and I was amazed by his generosity and kindness. We know that things are difficult, that's for sure. A policy of the small step, but until the end we will keep this hope. I defend several French prisoners abroad and realize every time that the role of parents and relatives is always very important, essential even.