Rojava veteran Libre Flot accuses the authorities of framing him because of his participation in the war against ISIS.
On 8th December 2020, 9 anarchists were arrested by the DGSI, the French anti-terrorist police unit, in various locations across France. They have been accused of partaking in “a criminal association planning a terrorist attack”.
All but one have since been released (two without charges), some after months in pre-trial detention. They are awaiting trial and are placed under judicial control. The defendants, not all of whom know each other, have been under surveillance for a long period of time, including digital surveillance such as planting recording devices in vehicles as well as physical surveillance.
The one who is still incarcerated awaiting trial, Libre Flot, is kept in solitary confinement with limited access to visitors. The official reason given to justify his continual detention in such conditions while all other defendants have been released is because the authorities and the court identify him as the leader of the “group”.
Earlier in February, Libre Flot’s appeal to be released before trial was denied by a judge.
His letter below is the announcement of the beginning of his hunger strike struggle.
Why I am on hunger strike
For more than 14 months I have been refuting this infamous and defamatory accusation of terrorist association. It has been more than 14 months since the DGSI explained to me that I was not arrested for what they wanted me to believe, namely my involvement with the Kurdish forces against Islamic state (Daesh) in Rojava.
It has been more than 14 months during which time nothing validated the thesis elaborated from scratch by the DGSI, even though for at least 10 months I have been followed, traced, bugged 24 hours a day in my vehicle, my home, spied on even in my bed.
For more than 14 months I have understood that it is my political opinions and my participation in the Kurdish YPG forces in the fight against Daesh that they are trying to criminalize. It has been more than 14 months that 7 people who do not know each other are accused of being part of a criminal association.
It has been more than 14 months of answering questions from an investigating judge using the same tortuous techniques as the DGSI: manipulation, de-contextualization, omission and invention of words and facts in an attempt to influence the answers.
For more than 14 months I have been subjected to the provocations of the investigating judge who, while I am languishing in the jails of the Republic, allows himself to tell me that this case is a waste of his time in the fight against terrorism. Worse still, he allows himself the most unacceptable insult by referring to the barbarians of the Islamic State as my “friends from Daesh”. Although verbal, this remains an unfathomable act of violence. It is inadmissible that this judge grants himself the right to insult me to the highest degree, tries to smear me, and thus spits on the memory of my Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Turkmen, Armenian, Turkish and international friends and comrades who have fallen in the struggle against this organization. I am still outraged by this.
It has been more than 14 months of a biased investigation in which, contrary to his role, the investigating judge investigates only for the prosecution and never for the defense. He does not take into consideration anything that goes beyond the pre-established scenario and only serves to validate a fake personality shaped from A to Z by the DGSI, which far from representing me and only reflects the paranoid fantasies of this political police. Thus, I am constantly presented as a “charismatic leader” even though any non-horizontal mode of functioning is contrary to my egalitarian values.
For more than 14 months I have been held in so-called pre-trial detention without trial, under the most terrible conditions possible: the regime of isolation (see letters of March 2021 and June 2021) considered as “white torture” and inhuman or degrading treatment by several human rights bodies. It has been more than 14 months that I am buried living in a hellish and permanent solitude without having anyone to talk to, just to be able to contemplate the decay of my intellectual capacities and the degradation of my physical state and this, without having access to a psychological follow-up.
After having provided the prison administration with false arguments to ensure that I would be kept in solitary confinement, the examining magistrate requested the rejection of my request for release, as did the national anti-terrorist prosecutor. To do this, they almost copy and pasted the DGSI report of February 7, 2020, the basis of this whole affair, whose veracity has not been demonstrated and from which we do not know where the information comes. We have the right to ask ourselves what was the point of the wiretaps, surveillance, sound recordings and these two years of judicial investigation and instruction, since the facts that demonstrate the false construction of the DGSI have been concealed.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) and the investigating judge are constantly trying to instill confusion and to create an amalgam with Islamist terrorists, even though they know full well that I fought against the Islamic State, notably during the liberation of Raqqa, where the attacks of November 13 were planned.
The investigating judge claims to be afraid that I would inform imaginary people of my situation, even though it is public, notably because the DGSI or the PNAT themselves have leaked the information from the first day. He thus claims to prevent any pressure on witnesses, victims and their families even though there are no witnesses or victims since there is no act. It is ubiquitous. He also mentioned his fear of a concerted effort between co-defendants and accomplices, even though all the co-defendants have been released, that he has not questioned anyone but me since October 2021, and that I have waited patiently until he has finished questioning me to file this request for release. It could have been comical in other circumstances to note the use of anodyne facts such as: enjoying my right to move freely in France and in Europe, my way of life, my political opinions, my sports practices, my taste for rap music or Kurdish music.
The examining magistrate attacks my mother by designating her as not being a valid guarantee for the simple reason that she did not prevent her son, who was 33 years old at the time, from joining the Kurdish forces of the YPG in the fight against Daesh. Once again, it is my participation in this conflict that is being criminalized. He also criticizes the use of encrypted applications (WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram …) which millions of people in France are using. Finally, he denigrates all the other options of guarantees (work, accommodation…) without having anything to reproach them, even though the staff of the SPIP (Penitentiary integration and probation services) whose job it is, have given a favorable opinion.
How then can we understand that after having ordered these feasibility investigations signifying the possibility of releasing me with an electronic bracelet, the judge of freedoms and detention, in spite of the report, refuses to put it in place? Many of us have noticed that in this whole affair the “justice” violates its own laws and is subject to the political agenda of the DGSI.
I recently learned from the mouth of the director of detentions of the Yvelines prison (Bois d’Arcy), whom I thank for his frankness, that my placement and my maintenance in solitary confinement were decided from the first day by very high ranking people and that whatever I say or he says or does, nothing will be done about it, that it is beyond him, the file will not even be read and I will remain in the solitary confinement area and that, in any case, nothing could change before the presidential elections.
- Since they are trying to criminalize the activists who fought with the Kurds against Daesh,
- Since the so-called pre-trial detention is used to punish political opinions,
- Since this story exists only for the purpose of political manipulation,
Since today I am only left with the prospect of the slow destruction of my being,
I declare myself on hunger strike since Sunday, February 27, 2022 at 6 p.m. At the moment I only claim my release, while waiting to demonstrate the slanderous side of this shameful accusation.
Libre Flot
Via Freedom News