Lawyers assure that the problem had been known for several months.
Seven illegal foreigners were released from an administrative detention center (CRA) in Lille-Lesquin, due to a lack of access to telephone booths, Le Figaro revealed on Sunday.
The Lille judge of freedoms and detention ruled that their placement in the CRA contravened the fundamental rights of foreigners, because they could not communicate with the outside world, as provided for in the Code of Entry and Stay.
He therefore ordered their release on Saturday.
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The law provides that foreigners placed in administrative detention must have at least one freely accessible telephone for at least 50 detainees, the daily recalls.
However, several cabins at the Lille-Lesquin CRA have been damaged in recent months.
Substitute Phones
This problem was noted in December in a report written by two lawyers.
“The problem of a destroyed phone has existed for several months.
The administration did not carry out the work to put it back into service,” Olivier Cardon, one of the authors, explained to BFMTV on Sunday, who assures that there has “never been a response from the Ministry of 'Interior following our report'.
The Northern prefecture assured Le Figaro that “two-thirds” had been repaired and that replacement mobile phones are made available when the cabins are not accessible.
This was confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior to BFMTV.
The judge of freedoms and detention, however, considered according to Le Figaro that “it has not been established that (…) the CRA telephones have been repaired, the administration being unable to provide its own certification on this point.” even to justify the repair of telephone booths.”