“If we leave him with someone, it will be crazy !» The alert had already been launched by a fellow prisoner, to no avail. A few weeks later, AM slit the throat of Robin Cotta, 22, in his cell at the Baumettes remand center in Marseille. This Monday, January 13, the investigation unit of Radio France reveals that the death of this young man, unknown to the courts before an arrest for forgery and use of forgery, could have been avoided if the numerous alerts launched by the person concerned had been heard, according to numerous elements of the police investigation.
According to Radio France, Robien Cotta was arrested on September 21, 2024 in a pharmacy in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence while he was in possession of false prescriptions to obtain codeine syrup, an ingredient necessary for the manufacture of a euphoric cocktail. Indicted and placed in pre-trial detention, the young man with an empty criminal record entered the Baumettes remand center. For several days, his detention seemed to proceed normally, he even wrote a letter to his father explaining that the investigation should be “fast”, because he “already said it all”. “I’ll take it like a man.”
Three letters addressed to management
On October 4, Robin Cotta was placed in a cell with a new cellmate: AM, 25 years old, incarcerated for a month and already convicted of theft and violence. “During the investigation, several detainees explained to the police that AM had already threatened some of his three fellow detainees, notably by miming cutting them up with a machete”specifies the Radio France investigation unit. For six days, Robin Cotta tried by all means to change cells. Three letters were even sent to the management of Baumettes, including one on the day of his death, specifies the prison report. In response to this final missive, the person in charge of the arrivals area – the reception area of the remand center suffering from very high prison overcrowding – replied that he could not receive Robin until the next day.
In the meantime, the young inmate used his cell’s intercom, whose communications must be recorded by prison guards, in order to ask to be moved to the cell opposite his own. According to video surveillance footage, a guard appears to notice around 5:04 p.m. that Robin is waving a piece of paper under his cell door. A little over an hour later, other images show the same guard discussing with the young man and AM The first categorically refuses to return to his cell, he even asks to be transferred to solitary confinement so as not to stay with AM Request rejected, “lack of space”. An hour later, Robin is found dead in his cell.
“I had confidence in the State and the prison”
Contacted by the Ministry of Justice and the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, had not responded at the time of publication of the article. The prison administration confirms for its part that an administrative investigation has also been launched and that it cannot “comment on an ongoing investigation”. She adds that the case “is not taken lightly”. “It’s a tragedy for everyone.” Robin Cotta’s family says it is ready to file a complaint against the Baumettes management. “My son was not Pablo Escobarexplains Robin’s mother to Radio France. I had confidence in the state and the prison.”
Radio France finally specifies that AM should not even have found itself in a cell with Robin Cotta. A memo from the management of the Baumettes penitentiary center requests that new arrivals be observed and evaluated for fifteen days before being assigned to another district. However, AM was still among the arrivals a month after his arrival in Baumettes. A neighborhood which had, according to information from Radio France, nearly 120 inmates at the time of Robin Cotta’s death, when the normal occupancy rate is only 62 places.
Source: www.liberation.fr
