Congo-B: prison sentence required against students of a high school who replaced the country's flag
The Brazzaville prosecutor is demanding two months' imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 CFA francs (76 euros) for the fifteen of the seventeen students at a technical high school, for defacing the Congolese flag.
The investigation and requisitions were held on Friday March 8.
While two students benefited from the acquittal, the court will make its decision on the others next week.
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The partial entrance to the Cinq-Février-1979 high school where the students replaced the national flag with a midnight blue fabric.
© Loïcia Martial / RFI
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With our correspondent in Brazzaville,
Loïcia Martial
Friday March 8, during the last correctional hearing in a room without air conditioning, the parents visibly suffocated.
Their children were indicted for having taken down the green-yellow-red flag of
Congo-Brazzaville
at the high school on February 5
and then replacing it with a dark blue fabric – the color of the students' uniforms.
The public prosecutor asked the court
to sentence the 15 learners
.
“
Extreme gravity
”
This request surprises lawyer Haris Kissouéssoué of the defense: “
This case hit the headlines.
And the public prosecutor, from the start of this procedure, spoke of a matter of extreme seriousness.
Today, he is demanding two months of imprisonment.
We believe that the court will not follow the prosecution, understanding that these children have done nothing and they are in exam class.
They should be released to better prepare for their baccalaureate exam
,” he declared.
“
Symbolic
” sanction
For his part, Mr. Jean-Fortuné Bassinga, lawyer for the State, requests that
the students be sanctioned on a symbolic basis
: “
The State that I represent still had the leniency to ask the court to sentence them to just a symbolic franc , taking into account their student status.
Question of also allowing them to resume their classes;
as long as it serves as a lesson to them
,” he said.
Two of the seventeen students were released due to lack of evidence.
The fifteen other students will be informed of the judgment on March 14.
Read alsoCongo-B: start of construction work on the first university outside Brazzaville
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