TRNUC resumes after temporary closure due to Covid-19 |09 July 2021

The Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) resumed its sessions yesterday following a temporary closure from June 23, 2021 as a result of Covid-19.

After the first closed session, Gilbert Elisa was the second person, among four complainants, to appear before the commission in open session.

Case 0224: Gisele Alisoppe

In setting out her complaint, Gisele Alisoppe said that her son, Yves Micock, was unfairly dismissed from the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) in relation to a parcel containing drugs that was posted to the army in his name but which did not belong to him.

She further said that her son had told her that knowing he never imported any parcel, he refused to take it.

She stated that the parcel was opened in front of him and he was dismissed upon the drugs being found.

Mrs Alisoppe said that she believed her son was targeted because he was a witness against the son of a high ranking army official, who was dismissed from the force for being in possession of a fire arm that was not registered in his name (son).

She added that Yves then worked as a fisherman after his dismissal and was lost at sea following a fishing trip with another man, some sixteen years ago.

She stated that the story given from the man accompanying her son on the fishing trip was that the rudder had broken and that he and Yves, who were in life jackets, had jumped in the water to see what had happened, and from there he never saw Yves again.

She noted that the man accompanying her son was never known to be a fisherman and she found it strange that the man was not held in custody and was allowed to travel freely to Mahé from Praslin, from where he was brought after he was found at sea.

She said that she later heard that her son’s disappearance was drug related and she believed he was set up and made to disappear.

She mentioned some names and stated that they might be behind the disappearance of her son.

Mrs Alisoppe added that a retired police officer who was on the case had told her that Yves’ disappearance was fishy and she should report the case to the commission for investigation.

She said her son was a very good swimmer and that his disappearance was planned.

She said she hopes that if he is not dead, he is among the Seychellois being kept captive in other countries.

Case 0169: Gilbert Elisa

Seventy-eight-year-old Gilbert Elisa from Ma Constance told the commission that on October 3, 2006 he was badly beaten by the Special Police Unit (SSU) as he stood to watch a gathering by the opposition at the National Library.

He said it all started when he went to buy some coconuts in town and he ended up at the National Library to witness a gathering being held by the Seychelles National Party (SNP) and standing away from the gathering with a friend, he saw a police jeep which was going up and down purposely hit a pedestrian on the pavement to start a commotion.

He added that a person, in civilian clothing, jumped out from the driver’s seat and fired his pistol in the air which sent the crowd running in every direction.

He stated that his shots were followed by the spraying of tear gas and further gun fire by the SSU police.

Mr Elisa stated that while he and his friend were not involved in the gathering, they didn’t run.

He said the police came in their direction and started to beat them up with batons.

He said he passed out and later was picked up by a local citizen and spent three hours at the Seychelles Hospital to nurse and stitch his wounds, especially on his bruised knees, on which he had several surgeries after.

He said he brought a case against the police and won but later, through his lawyer, made an appeal as he was not satisfied with the amount.

He said he won his appeal but has since then never received the amount he was supposed to get as money was deducted by his lawyer and he never knew why. He said that people had told him that he was the only person that day who endured the most beating by the police.

Mr Elisa stated that he did not witness any violence at the gathering that day other than shouts and singing from those who had gathered to sign a petition, compared to what was declared by the state.

He said that there was no police investigation into his beating other than an investigation by Judge Riley in which his case was filed in the report. He continued with part of his complaint in closed session.

Case 0245: Peter Georges Payet

Peter Georges Payet was the last person to appear before the commission in half open and half closed sessions. In open session, he complained that his father, Daniel Payet, was violated of his rights during the one party state where he was imprisoned in 1978 and later deported into exile in Britain.

Mr Payet said his father was victimised because he was a member of the Democratic Party and an elected member of that party for Praslin.

He said he was lucky that he was in Britain at the time of the one party state and he was not subject to the victimisations under the party in power.

He added that he had to cater for all of his family when they arrived in Britain, apart from one sister who stayed behind.

He said his father was never told why he was arrested.

The chairperson of the commission, Gabrielle McIntyre, took the opportunity to inform him that through information given to the British high commissioner by the police commissioner back then, his father was in direct contact with persons locally and overseas who were planning to invade the country. The invasion plans included hiding of arms on Praslin to conduct an armed civil disturbance on the island among others.

Mr Payet said that he saw the report and it was all a lie by the state as it would normally do at that time, just like it did for the coup of June 5, 1977, to justify arrests and victimisation of innocent persons.

He said that he worked with former President James Mancham while in England and the latter never wanted to do a counter coup to hurt anybody in Seychelles. He said that Mr Mancham used to say to him that he would never be able to live with himself if somebody gets killed through a counter coup and that was why he never wanted to stage a coup in Seychelles.

Going back to victimisation of his family, he stated that the state took their property in Zimbabwe on Praslin and the family had never been compensated.

He said that his grandmother had bought twenty-one plots of land that were taken away from the family.

He said that large portions of the acquired land stay idle and should be returned to the heirs while also the family is compensated.

He said that apart from the Britania Hotel, which is being run by his sister who stayed behind, all other businesses belonging to his father were taken by the state and he was not compensated.

He said his father, who helped a lot of people, died with nothing but a broken heart.

The second part of his complaint was held in closed session.

At the start of the session, the commission through Commissioner Michael Green, read a response letter from Marie-France Esparon based on her case on harassment and persecution, including that of her son, Julius Adrienne, by the police. In the letter she refuted all allegations on her private life which she described as unnecessary, made by former high ranking police officer Guy Roucou in his defence presentation to the commission on June 8, 2021.

Patrick Joubert