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The Frenchman Michael White, arrested in Bali in 1999 with drugs and heavily condemned in Indonesia, left this country of Southeast Asia on Saturday, July 21 to return to France, after a fierce fight that lasted 19 years
This cook from Haute-Savoie (center-east of France) was arrested in December 1999, at the age of 26, at the international airport of the tourist island from Bali with 3.8 kilos of hashish in diving bottles. He claimed that a friend had entrusted him with them to transport them.
Shortly escaping the death penalty, sentenced to life imprisonment, Michael Blanc received a partial pardon in 2009 and saw his sentence commuted to 20 years in prison. After obtaining a conditional release, he was released from prison in 2014, but under judicial control with a ban on leaving Indonesia before 21 July.
45 years old today, the Frenchman was expelled from the country as provided by Indonesian law for all foreigners once they have served their sentence.
Michael Blanc arrived at Soekarno airport -Hatta Jakarta escorted by three immigration officers, and accompanied by his mother, Helene Le Touzey, who worked hard for his release. The two Frenchmen embarked on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul where they will make a stopover before resuming another flight. They are expected in France Sunday.
The media coverage of his situation triggered an important mobilization in the country, with petitions signed by personalities and many anonymous. But it is to his mother, who gave up everything – job, family, country – from the year 2000 to come to his rescue, that Michael White owes his salvation.
Hélène Le Touzey was very involved, d first to get him a reduced sentence, and then to get him released. "If I had not been there, he would not be here anymore, for a moment he had asked me to leave so that I could end life, he told me that I would never be able to get his release." entrusted his mother to the release from prison of his son, in 2014.
"To rebuild everything"
From the beginning of the affair, the French television host Thierry Ardisson had defended the prisoner during his broadcasts , going so far as to organize a "Michaëlthon" – auction of celebrity objects – to finance his support committee.
Looking forward to meeting Mr. Blanc on his return to France, Mr. Ardisson declared that he was a "modern hero at the" Midnight Express "", a reference to Alan Parker's film about an American detained in Turkey for drug trafficking. The host said he would invite Mr. Blanc on his show, which will resume in September on the C8 channel.
In Bonneville, birthplace of Mr. Blanc, the Announcement of his return is welcomed by some residents, starting with the former mayor, Martial Saddier, now member for Haute-Savoie, who has worked hard to help the family of French. "This is good news, but we must not forget that he has still served a very heavy sentence, nor the efforts of his mother to be detained in decent conditions," said M Saddier
"That he had held out for so long, hat The toughest test is now behind him, even if he now has to rebuild everything." He always told his loved ones he would return, "added the former mayor.
While it is the end of the ordeal for Mr. Blanc, two other French are serving long sentences for drug trafficking in Indonesia: Gérard Debetz, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2011, and Serge Atlaoui who was sentenced to death in 2007. And dozens of others sentenced to death for drug trafficking, including many foreigners, are in the corridor. the death. However, there has been no execution for two years.
More than 1,200 French are detained abroad, including seven sentenced to death
More than 1,200 French are detained abroad, as the was Michael White, and seven of them are under sentence of death, according to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– an undervalued figure –
As of May 31, 2018, a total of 1,270 French nationals were recorded as being held abroad, according to the Quai d'Orsay. This figure corresponds to the cases reported to the French consulates by the persons concerned themselves or by relatives or even by the local authorities. This total is "probably undervalued" because many French held in European countries make the choice not to be known to the consulates, says one Quai d'Orsay. Among French prisoners abroad, seven are currently under sentence of death penalty, said the ministry which stresses that the fight for the universal abolition of the death penalty is a "diplomatic priority". "Our ministry is acting to allow commutation of the sentences of our seven compatriots," says one.
– Famous cases –
Among the seven convicts on death row: Serge Atlaoui, arrested in Indonesia in 2005 in a clandestine ecstasy production laboratory near Jakarta was sentenced in 2007 to death. This welder craftsman, who
is still declared innocent, has seen his last appeal rejected by the Supreme Court on April 21, 2015.
Of the 1 270 French listed as held abroad, 46% are in the European Union or Western Europe, 15% in North Africa, 11% in Asia and Oceania, 7% in Central and South America and 7% in North America.
The most famous and emblematic case of recent years: the French Florence Cbadez was sentenced by the Mexican justice to 60 years in prison for kidnapping and was released on 23 January 2013 after seven years in prison. The Mexican Supreme Court ruled that the conditions for a fair trial had not been respected.
Another famous detainee, for terrorism this time: Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested in the United States a few weeks before the attacks of 11-September 2001 and sentenced in May 2006 to life imprisonment for complicity in these attacks by a federal court in Virginia. His conviction was upheld on appeal in January 2010. He is serving his solitary confinement in a very high security prison in Colorado (West).
– Drug cases –
But detentions for drug cases are the most numerous among French prisoners abroad: "narcotics offenses" are responsible for 29% of cases (60% of cases in Latin America and 50% of cases). % in North Africa). Among them, the case of Gérard Debetz, a Limougeaud arrested in 2011 at the airport of Jakarta by the customs with a suitcase where were concealed 5.1 kilos of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but says he was unaware of the contents of this suitcase.
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