The Court of Justice of the Republic has dismissed complaints against the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, by families of women and children of French jihadists detained in Syria.
Six complaints, notably for "failure to provide assistance" and "abuse of authority", had been lodged from July with the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) - the only court empowered to judge acts committed by members of the government in the exercise of their functions - and also targeted the Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet.
The plaintiffs criticized the head of diplomacy for refusing, in a "weighed, voluntary and intentional" manner, to repatriate these women and children of French jihadists held in Kurdish camps in Syria while they are "in peril".
Minors under the authority of their parents
In a decision rendered on December 16, the requests commission of the CJR closed these complaints. In particular, it considers that the offenses alleged against the ministers are based on the premise "that the persons in question had the means to act or had local relays enabling them to intervene effectively".
However, according to the CJR, Syria is a "foreign territory, which does not have a stable and recognized representation and which is moreover currently in the grip of a conflict".
Furthermore, the CJR argues that with regard to minors, “to date they are under the parental authority of their mother, who has not been shown to have fallen from it or to have agreed to leave their children behind. children leave the camps without them ”.
"This is neither a legal decision, nor a judicial decision, it is a political decision," reacted Marie Dosé, lawyer for several families of jihadists. "When France wanted to repatriate people, it did," she observed. “She never explained that she could not repatriate these people. "
Twelve children repatriated in June
So far, the French government has only agreed to repatriate children from these camps on a "case by case" basis. After months of procrastination in a context of strong hostility from public opinion, Paris thus repatriated in June 12 children, the majority of whom were orphans, after five repatriations in March.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
"This is the reason of state and hypocrisy that prevailed once again in the management of the return" of these families, regretted for his part Me Emmanuel Daoud, at the origin of some of these complaints. “It is unfortunate that the CJR has let go. "
According to the lawyer, "we know that there is a French presence on the spot, the French services are on the spot, the French authorities are in a constant dialogue with the Kurdish authorities".
Me Dosé has filed several summary orders to establish the "assault", which allows the judicial judge to sanction an infringement of "individual freedom" committed by the administration. The lawyer argues in particular that "the repatriations of fifteen orphans in recent months demonstrate that the French authorities have a decisive influence on the local authorities who manage these camps to organize these repatriations in satisfactory security conditions" . A hearing has already been scheduled for February 13.
