An Albanian family, with a 6-year-old child, was placed in Rennes' Center de Retention Administratif (CRA) on Tuesday and Wednesday. The liberty and detention judge has demanded their release on Wednesday.
Sitting in the office of the judge of liberties and detention, at the District Court of Rennes, Diorli looks seriously at his parents. They have just spent 24 hours at the Rennes administrative detention center (CRA). "I was not good," the child said timidly. "I do not have words so I'm disturbed, add to the tears Forcim, his dad. It's hard to put a child in detention, it's like prison. "
The condemned prefecture
This Tuesday, October 30, the family was arrested in Tours, where she resides, to be locked at the CRA Rennes, at the request of the Prefecture of Indre-et-Loire, pending his return to Albania. They have been living in France for one year and their asylum application has been rejected before the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) and the National Asylum Court (Cnda).
This Wednesday, the judge freedoms and detention has asked for their release because the "prefecture of Indre-et-Loire has not sufficiently examined their situation." Their lawyer laments: "They were under house arrest but did not know. The prefecture was also ordered to pay them € 600.
"Back to school"
The family wishes that their case be reconsidered by the Cnda. "We're going back to Tours by train, " Dad explains. We want to stay in France because I am threatened in Albania. My family would be in danger there. Diorli, attending CE1, wants to "go back to school. I made friends and I loved playing football with them. "
"Very rare"
Cimade reacted to the detention of the family. "The prefecture of Indre-et-Loire chooses school holidays to challenge, lock up and expel a family with their child of 6 years. The association is fighting against the placement in detention of minors. "In detention centers, children are exposed to an extremely violent environment. The association also recalls the obligation to protect and care for young people in danger. "A 6-year-old child in a Rennes detention center is extremely rare," adds the family lawyer.
"Not a place of passage for a child"
This is the third family, with children, locked at the CRA Rennes this year. "The law authorizes the placement of a family in a CRA for a limited period of time, if expulsion is imminent," says Adrien Cornec, legal advisor at Cimade. But the CRA is not a place of passage for a child, because it looks like a prison. In 2017, 305 children were detained in France, according to Cimade.