SA government requests explanation from France after alleged 'police brutality' against Pretty Yende

The SA government has raised concerns with France over the alleged mistreatment of SA-born opera singer Pretty Yende.

In a social media post earlier this week, Pretty detailed a harrowing experience she allegedly endured at the hands of French authorities at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. 

After the incident, the SA government said that it had noted the urgency of the matter and had demanded a thorough investigation.

“The SA embassy in Paris has written to French authorities seeking an explanation and requesting a thorough investigation into the matter. This is after Ms Yende was detained by French police at the airport for almost three hours based on an allegation that her Italian residence permit was not valid,” it said in a statement.

In the lengthy Facebook post, the international opera star claimed that she had been “stripped and searched like a criminal offender and put on the retention cell on terminal 2B customs control Charles de Gaulle, Paris”. She said she believes the actions of the police were fuelled by racism.

“I’ve always read about it on the news and most of my brothers and sister end up being tortured, and some fatal cases make headlines and dead bodies suddenly appear with made up stories. I am one of the very luck ones to be alive to see the day today, even with ill-treatment and outrageous racial discrimination and psychological torture and very offensive racial comments in a country that I’ve given so much of my heart to. I’m still shaken, thinking that I am one in a million who managed to come out of that situation alive,” Pretty wrote.

She detailed what had happened to her on Sunday, saying she was grateful she had lived to tell the tale and that she planned to stick to her performance schedule despite the incident.

Read here.

Meanwhile, in a response to an enquiry by TshisaLIVE, the political and press counsellor of the French Embassy in SA, Vigdis Beaussier, said they were aware of Pretty's Facebook post.

The embassy shared a version of events, according to the reports it received from Paris.

“The embassy has been informed that M. Pretty Yende was stopped at Charles de Gaulle Airport on June 21. According to information from the French police, Ms Yende did not have a valid visa for entering France and as such was asked to step aside in a holding room while necessary verifications were made. She was searched by a female police officer to make sure she did not have any dangerous objects on her, but never asked to remove her clothes. Once all verifications had been made, she was issued with a visa on the spot and was able to leave the airport.”

The embassy added: “Ms Pretty Yende is a wonderful artist who is greatly contributing to French-SA cultural ties. Audiences in Paris have been delighted by her recent performance at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées.”