The trial of Thomas Debatisse from Nice opened on Thursday, February 3rd, in the Seychelles. He is accused of killing his partner during a trip to the country. It is a case on which the Seychellois and French judiciaries are at odds.
Two different perspectives on the same case are in conflict. The case concerns the street artist from Nice, Thomas Debatisse, better known as Otom. During a stay in the Seychelles on April 27, 2021, his companion Emmanuelle Badibanga was found hanged in her hotel room. He is accused by the justice system of the archipelago of causing the young woman’s death. This version is disputed by the French judiciary, which concludes that it was a suicide by hanging. His trial began on February 3, 2021, on the island. He faces a life sentence.
“There are no traces of sexual violence, no signs of blows on the body, even though, a month and a half after the first autopsy, due to the body’s degradation, we must remain cautious,” stated the public prosecutor, Xavier Bonhomme, to AFP.
He has requested the authorities of the country to allow him to travel there. “The request for international judicial assistance that we sent them on October 26, 2021, which included, among other things, the request to locally carry out numerous investigative acts in the presence of the Nice prosecutor’s office and a Nice judicial police investigator,” however, did not receive a response from the archipelago’s government.
Thomas Debatisse will be defended on-site by a Seychellois lawyer, who says he will base his defense on the analysis of testimonies and surveillance camera footage. The trial is expected to last a month.
