Morocco : fateful cargo | M6 | 66 minutes

On December 28 2006, the Tangiers criminal court condemned Christophe Curutchet to ten years in prison for “possession, traffic, transport and conspiracy to export prohibited merchandize.” On appeal, on April 18 2007, the sentence was reduced to eight years imprisonment. On January 9 2008 the Moroccan Supreme Court overturned the appeal court decision. In September 2006, Christophe Curutchet was director of the Moroccan subsidiary of the STE Méditerranée international freight company, based in Casablanca. On the day in question, in one of the trucks chartered by the STE, customs officers discovered two undeclared palettes. Inside they found 1.4 metric tons of hashish. In the eyes of the Moroccan legal system, as director of the company, Christophe Curutchet, must have been aware of the shipment. The defense rejects these accusations and claims the police bungled the investigation: no search of Christophe Curutchet’s home, nor of the STE store, which was under custom’s authority, and no sniffer dogs, either. Christophe Curutchet felt abandoned by France. He attempted suicide, and then went on hunger strike for twenty-one days. He interrupted his hunger strike on January 12, when he learned that his family had met with French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner. His lawyers asked King Mohammed VI to grant him a pardon. A report from the depths of a legal quagmire.