Le Figaro Nantes
Fight
the “hydra”
of drug trafficking, without being discouraged.
The public prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, blew more hot than cold on the 2023 results of his jurisdiction, during the solemn back-to-school hearing organized Thursday at the Nantes judicial court.
The magistrate certainly had to recognize, with bitterness, the eternal restart represented by the fight against drug trafficking, a Sisyphean task likely to discourage magistrates.
Despite this observation, the prosecutor had an easy smile.
“We also have successes
,” he insisted to his colleagues, the police and politicians gathered in the fifth courtroom of the courthouse.
The activity of the Nantes court in criminal matters has been vigorous, strictly exceptional, with a massive increase in removals.”
And in fact, the activity of the court reached peaks during the year 2023. The total prison sentences handed down by the criminal court thus amount to 980 cumulative years, or 300 additional years compared to 2019, announced the public prosecutor.
This statistical data, which Renaud Gaudeul admits to having
“never provided in the past”
, is distributed over some 12,000 criminal proceedings – again a record figure.
The increase in removals increased by 75% on 2021 figures.
Prison ceiling
“This remarkable penal response was necessary given the structure and evolution of delinquency, particularly in the area of drug trafficking
,” he said.
“This is a strong marker of recent years, which poisons the lives of our fellow citizens and which is not easy to live with either for magistrates or for the police.
But we must fight this fight
. ”
Renaud Gaudeul did not fail to congratulate the police forces for their work on these various files, with again this week
“considerable catches and particularly useful arrests”
.
The public prosecutor finally welcomed the sustained activity of the prosecution which
“makes it possible to contradict certain untruths that we can still sometimes hear”
about the supposed
“softness”
of the magistrates.
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Apart from operations against drug trafficking, the public prosecutor also underlined the progress of the fight against attacks within the urban area
“and in particular within the city center”,
as well as the additional efforts deployed against burglaries, down last year.
The year 2023 was, more generally, marked by the processing of 88,000 procedures, a new record for the jurisdiction, an increase of 40% compared to 2019. The 5% drop in recorded acts of delinquency was offset by the increase in the number of people implicated in police and gendarmerie investigations;
it also allowed magistrates to, paradoxically, handle more cases.
However, these efforts are not expected to grow indefinitely.
On the contrary, they would even be on the verge of reaching a glass ceiling: that of prison places.
“The prison system is not capable of absorbing more serious sentences
,” warned Renaud Gaudeul, recalling that the occupancy rate of the Nantes penitentiary center is today 175%.
The public prosecutor finally thanked the Ministry of Justice for the additional staff, the Nantes public prosecutor's office now being made up of 28 magistrates, compared to 23 in September 2021.
“The Nantes jurisdiction has been prioritized”
over other sectors , observes Renaud Gaudeul, all things considered quite satisfied with this situation, in light of the heavy issue of insecurity in Nantes.