The French authorities made a request for the extradition of Jean-Hubert Celerine, alias Franklin, and Jean Désiré Décidé, alias Nono, on 21 February. This was announced by Pravind Jugnauth in his response to the opposition leader’s Private Notice Question this morning.
In his opening response, he had given details of the request for a rogatory commission made by the French authorities. He confirmed that it was received in September 2018. But it was not until May 2019 that an application was filed in the Supreme Court by the Attorney General to have Franklin’s and Nono’s depositions recorded.
According to the Prime Minister, the recordings were done on 18 September 2019. Franklin and Nono responded in Kreol. On 6 January 2020, the deposition of the two and the transcript of their responses were submitted to the Attorney General. But on 14 January, the Attorney General asked the Master and Registrar for a French translation.
However, on 29 July 2020, the Mauritian authorities were informed, through a ‘note verbale’, that the rogatory commission procedure had been closed. ” How can you explain that the Attorney General took so long to act?” reacted Xavier-Luc Duval.
The Prime Minister replied that there are procedures to follow. “You have to go through the court,” he said. He said that France informed Mauritius that the rogatory commission was closed when the depositions were recorded.
Xavier-Luc Duval insisted and then asked if Franklin had ever been the subject of an international arrest warrant. No, replied the Prime Minister, who did however point out that there was an Interpol Diffusion Notice. He added that following the issuance of this notice, the person concerned cannot be arrested without an extradition request.
Pravind Jugnauth then revealed that on 21 February 2023, the French authorities made an extradition request for Franklin and Nono. Xavier-Luc Duval then asked the Prime Minister if he can give the assurance everything is being done to ensure that the extradition is carried out.
“The Attorney General is doing even more! On 28 February, the Attorney General indicated that there are aspects that need to be clarified. But I can assure you that everything is being done to take the case to court and for the two people in question to be extradited,” replied Pravind Jugnauth.
