"
Do you realize the enormity of this remark?"
"Wednesday April 21, on RTL, the Minister of Justice reacted strongly to the proposal of Xavier Bertrand, president of Hauts-de-France and candidate for the presidential election, to create
" an automatic prison sentence "
for the attackers of police officers.
Read also: Several police gatherings to protest against the verdict of Viry-Châtillon
On Europe 1, Tuesday April 20, Xavier Bertrand assured that once elected, he would ask the French to vote in the fall of 2022 on a modification of the Constitution so that "
when we attack a police officer, a gendarme, a firefighter , a mayor, there [is] an automatic minimum prison sentence of one year which cannot be adapted
”.
According to him, with such a text, “
there could have been no acquittal
” in the appeal trial of the violent attack on the police in Viry-Châtillon in 2016.
The risk of condemning "the innocent"
On RTL, Eric Dupond-Moretti explained that Xavier Bertrand's proposal meant "
that it suffices, basically, to arrest people accused of violence against the police so that they are automatically condemned
", specifying the "
risk
", According to him, to"
condemn the innocent
".
And to continue: “
Mr. Bertrand is so uncomfortable that he backpedaled three times, on Facebook, on Twitter and on AFP, which he contacted.
It is an enormity what he said
”.
To read also: Police officers burned in Viry-Châtillon: "A judicial decision which reinforces the feeling of impunity"
The Keeper of the Seals then explained that in this kind of situation, the perpetrators were first arrested, that a judicial work was then "
done by the magistrates, who have no complacency a priori for the attackers of the police officers.
".
A "raid logic"
Eric Dupond-Moretti had already reacted strongly, Tuesday, April 20, via his Twitter account.
“
Mr. Bertrand therefore proposes a modification of the Constitution to automatically send to prison any person arrested without proof or trial.
No policeman, no magistrate will agree to substitute the principle of justice for the logic of the raid,
”wrote the Minister of Justice.
“
The problem is that this kind of statement positions Xavier Bertrand as a bad interpreter of Marine Le Pen
, we scratch in his cabinet.
He claims that with this measure, there would not have been Viry-Châtillon. So, translation: guilty or not, the people arrested would have taken a year in prison. In this case, we fall into something other than the rule of law.
"And drive the point home:"
By dint of running two campaigns at the same time, Xavier Bertrand is starting to get his feet in the carpet.
"