Seychelles opposition leader, Herminie, charged with witchcraft

The main opposition leader in Seychelles, Patrick Herminie, has been charged with witchcraft, along with seven others.

Police say the case is related to the discovery of two bodies exhumed from a cemetery on the island of Mahé.

A magistrates court on Monday freed him and six of his Seychellois co-accused on bail of 30,000 Seychelles rupees ($2,100; £1,745) but ruled that a Tanzanian suspect should stay in custody until the next court appearance in November.

He, however, has denied the charges, telling local media that his prosecution is a “political show” to taint his image.

Herminie intends to run for president in 2025 under the United Seychelles Party (USP) flag.

According to local media sources, Herminie and his co-suspected are accused of many offenses, including possessing objects meant for use in witchcraft, conspiring to practice witchcraft, and obtaining witchcraft-related services.

The Tanzanian suspect, who was detained on September 21 at the primary international airport, allegedly exchanged a WhatsApp chat with a Seychellois person in which the name of the opposition leader was mentioned.

The Tanzanian was found with items related to witchcraft, including stones, black wooden artefacts, small bottles of brownish liquid, a collection of powders, and documents with a strange language and “demonic and satanic” symbols, they said.

The documents were similar to those found in Catholic churches and other places that had been vandalised in Mahé, Seychelles’ largest island, prosecutors further alleged.

Herminie, who served as the speaker of Seychelles’ parliament between 2007 and 2016, told local media that more than 40 police officers had raided his party’s offices in the capital, Victoria, on Friday.

He added that the officers searched for items related to witchcraft, including “bones, body parts, and objects associated with Christianity” but did not find any.

Herminie described his arrest as “a political show” by President Wavel Ramkalawan to “eliminate those who he knows will remove him from power in the 2025 elections”, the Seychelles News Agency reported.

Herminie has said he does not believe in witchcraft, stating that “In Seychelles’ history, there has never been until now, a political party leader arrested for superstition and witchcraft. This is something new and it is shameful for Seychelles,” he was quoted as saying.

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