expat bass player Kent Carter arrested in France

[alankin]

This is from an email I received this afternoon from Emanem Records' Martin Davidson. Amongst other work, Kenter Carter recorded with Steve Lacy in the 1960s and 1970s.

"The American bass player Kent Carter and his wife, the Danish dancer Michala Marcus, live at the end of long dirt track road in the middle of the countryside - their nearest big town being Angoulême in the department of Charente in the south-west of France. Besides their own house, the only other house at their end of the road belongs to some friends of theirs. They rent it out as a gîte.

"In March they were phoned from a tourist office, by some people who wanted to rent it for a month. They agreed to this, as they had no reason to suspect the people who wanted to rent, and it is not usual to ask for papers for such a short term deal. Unfortunately, unknown to them, the renters were two of the leading lights of ETA - the separatist Basque terrorist organisation.

"On Friday April 2, both houses were raided by armed police, who handcuffed Kent & Michala (as well as the ETA men). The properties were searched thoroughly, and computers, computer CDRs, diaries and passports were confiscated. Late at night, Kent & Michala were taken to extremely crude police cells in Angoulême.

"On Sunday morning they were transferred to a prison in Paris, where they were interrogated at great length without a lawyer (and given a little appalling food). They basically could not answer any of the questions, since, essentially being pacifists, they have no connections with any terrorist organisations. So they were released on Tuesday - separately onto the streets of Paris without any money or a phone. Fortunately, their son lives in Paris, so they were able to link up with him and then with each other.

"However, they are still under judicial control, and have not had their passports and other things returned. They are forbidden to leave France, which means that Michala cannot visit her 89 year old father in Denmark, and Kent was unable to fulfil some concert engagements in Germany & Lithuania. They even have to ask permission from a judge via their lawyer to leave Charante, which means they are forced to plan their every move, and have to think before accepting an invitation outside the department.

"Kent's computer has long been declared clean - he reckons the most dangerous things on it were the collection of jokes he?d been sent by email over the years - but it has still not been returned, and he has since had to purchase a new one. As well as this loss of property and work, they have also had to hire an expensive lawyer to try and get the remaining shackles removed. They normally just about manage to get by financially, so this has really messed up their finances. Many friends and neighbours have been very supportive, and even organised a benefit concert for them.

"While the French government took a correct stand regarding the invasion of Iraq, this doesn't excuse these excesses in the so-called war against terrorism. Since Kent & Michala are completely innocent of any wrongdoing, they should immediately have their remaining restrictions of movement removed, and their confiscated items returned. They should also be compensated to cover their extra expenses and loss of earnings, as well as the trauma they have suffered by their treatment as "terrorists".

"Please give this case as much publicity as possible. Please contact the French authorities (such as the local embassy) about it. And please give this wonderful pair support by sending messages to kcarter@club-internet.fr."

Martin Davidson

3 Bittacy Rise

London

NW7 2HH

England

Edited June 9, 2004 by alankin

[brownie]

Another case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And pretty typical of some of the quasi horror stories that emerge from what happens at the periphery of current police actions in France nowadays.

The search and arrest of ETA suspects is one of the French police current priority. Too bad that Kent Carter and his wife were caught in that net.

And nothing much that can be done expect be patient, very patient.

Messaging at their email adress.

[Claude]

This was reported in italian and spanish news in April:

Francia, polizia apre indagine su sospetti militanti dell'Eta

El máximo jefe de ETA pudo haber escapado del cerco de la Policía gala

Apart from this, the capture of the two ETA terrorists doesn't seem to have made big news.

[brownie]

The April 2 arrest of the ETA suspect was frontpage news in many newspapers in Spain the following day. It was also primetime news on Spanish TV where any arrests in the ETA ranks gets priority treatment.

The arrested man known as Mobutu had previously escaped from a forced residency in central France a few months earlier. Mobutu was one of the top men in the ETA ranks.

Had no idea that Kent Carter was involved in such an adjacent way to this story.

The photographer who covered this story was at the houses outside Angouleme but Kent Carter and his wife had already been taken away.

This photographer is very knowledgeable about these ETA arrests and its consequences. He says that the travel restrictions that fell on Kent Carter and his wife may take quite a long time to get resolved.

What a mess!