the trial begins without the main defendants

At the trial of the former mayor of Canteleu Mélanie Boulanger, tried with 18 other defendants for extensive drug trafficking, the examination of the facts began on Tuesday, but in the absence of the main defendants.

After a week of false start due to procedural battle, the trial of the Canteleu case judged at the Bobigny criminal court, finally got to the heart of the debates on Tuesday June 4. The Canteleu affair involves extensive drug trafficking in the Rouen region for which 19 defendants are appearing, including the mayor of this town, who is accused of complicity. Although the trial finally begins, its difficulties are not yet over, particularly due to the absence of most of the defendants.

The hearing also opened Tuesday morning in front of an empty box. None of the incarcerated defendants are present: one is ill, the other two refused to be released from prison. Their role in this matter is central but “they want to assert their right to silence”, their lawyers explain. And they’re not the only ones. The first defendant called to the stand is also not present. “It went badly for him when he came out of pre-trial detention”explains his lawyer. “He didn’t want to get back into bad conditions”she continues. “He was pressured?”asks the president. “He didn’t specify.”replies the lawyer who understands that her client never filed a complaint.

The only one to answer the court’s questions on Tuesday afternoon was therefore a simple intermediary, nicknamed “Zozo la thune”, suspected of having smuggled money from France to Morocco. But at the helm, he assures: “I have never trafficked drugs”.

This omerta is actually symptomatic in this type of business. In this case as in others, a family, here the Mezianis, caused a reign of terror in the small town of Canteleu.
This clan had control over several businesses in the city, recalled the president. These siblings beat up those who dared to complain about their traffic and even went so far as to put pressure on the town hall. This is also why this case is getting people talking: on the dock, a rare occurrence, is the former mayor of the city Mélanie Boulanger and her faithful deputy Hasbi Colak.

Both appear alongside the traffickers whom they are accused of having helped by intervening with the police. In particular, recalled the president, phone calls made by the mayor of the city to delay the installation of a video surveillance camera or to ease police checks on the Meziani land.

But the former elected official, also absent on Tuesday, should not allow the court to see things more clearly. “My client would like to point out how far she feels from the environment you described”, argued his lawyer. The elected official will be heard in two weeks by the court but she only discovered the existence and extent of this trafficking after her arrest, assures her counsel Me de Saint Rémy.