Juan Rémy Quignolot, arrested on May 10, 2021 in Bangui, accused of “undermining the internal security of the State”, “conspiracy” and “espionage” in the Central African Republic, began a hunger strike to protest against his “detention illegal,” say his sister and his lawyer. In a context of persistent tensions between Paris and Bangui, he is kept in pre-trial detention beyond the legal period of one year, assures his lawyer Arlette Sombo Dibelé.
“He will be tried during the next criminal session in October”, explains Eric Didier Tambo, public prosecutor at the Bangui Court of Appeal, without commenting on the continued detention beyond a year, which must be notified by an order of a judge or a chamber responsible for the investigation if necessary, according to Me Sombo Dibelé. Neither the government nor the prosecutor, asked by AFP, responded on Sunday afternoon to the effective start of a hunger strike by Juan Rémy Quignolot.
Paris denounces a “manifest instrumentalization”
He started a hunger strike “to the end” to “protest against the inertia of his own country, the violation of his rights and of Central African law”, said his sister Caroline Quignolot by telephone from France. “He stops eating at first then, in 15 days, if nothing has changed, he will also stop hydrating,” she added.
Juan Rémy Quignolot, a former French soldier, had worked occasionally for several organizations in the Central African Republic as a bodyguard, according to humanitarian sources. His lawyer denounces a “provisional detention” which is similar to a “sequestration”, ensuring that no reasoned order for continued detention has been notified.
Photos of his arrest had been posted on social networks, showing him with his hands tied behind his back, a large arsenal at his feet. The government then accused him of having “an enormous quantity of weapons of war” in his home. Paris then denounced this media coverage as a “manifest instrumentalization” aimed at “the presence and action of France”, implicitly accusing Russia which, since 2018, has challenged its influence in this country among the poorest in the world. The Central African Republic gained independence from France in 1960.