This is an unprecedented situation in the judicial history of Mauritius, the police commissioner is questioning the recent decisions of the Attorney General, and it is now up to the Supreme Court to settle this deadlock between two major institutions.
The backdrop to the case is a series of actions carried out by a special police intervention unit, called the Special Striking Team, with controversial methods and in a delicate political context.
Since last November, this brigade has arrested at least four opponents of the government, namely the former Minister of Justice Rama Valayden and formidable lawyer, the lawyer and politician Akil Bissessur, the activist Bruneau Laurette, very prominent since the oil spill caused by the sinking of the Wakashio in 2020 at Pointe d’Esny, and Sherry Singh, a man of the seraglio who recently turned his jacket against power.
A Subject of Academic and Media Debate
The charges brought by the police include the elements “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, drug trafficking, and theft”.
However, one by one, the Attorney General (Director of Public Prosecution) Me Rashid Amine, granted bail to these defendants. A decision that the police commissioner, Anil Kumar Dip, and this is unprecedented in Mauritius, challenged and criticized.
The police commissioner, not content with this setback, relied on the Supreme Court, sparking an institutional clash over respect for individual freedoms in a sensitive political atmosphere that has become a major subject of academic and media debate on the island.