A policewoman was sentenced Tuesday by the criminal court of Tours to six months in prison suspended for having consulted for personal purposes, in particular to contact the Minister of the Interior directly, a file accessible to all police officers and magistrates in France.
The 44-year-old police officer was also given a six-month practice ban.
She had notably extracted from this file, the Processing of criminal records (TAJ), the mobile number of Minister Gérald Darmanin in order to send him an SMS to alert him to the situation of the Tours police station, in the midst of a crisis.
"Whistleblower"
During the hearing, the policewoman's lawyer, Me Marc Morin, asked the courts to consider his client as a "
whistleblower (...) who had the audacity to send an SMS to the Minister of the Interior to directly denounce the situation of suffering at the Tours police station
".
According to the lawyer, his client denounced, under article 40, a officer "
who had simply drawn up a false report
", leading to an investigation by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), on substance of accusations of moral harassment.
Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure imposes the obligation for “
any public officer or civil servant, in the exercise of their functions
”, to report crimes or misdemeanors of which they are aware.
"
That's what they wanted me to pay
, "
repeated the defendant on Tuesday.
“
Everyone consults the TAJ.
Those who do so have simple reminders, never a report to the prosecutor
, ”
she argued.
"
Everything is related to my complaint for moral harassment
".
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The court did not follow all of the prosecution's requisitions, which demanded, in addition to a six-month suspended prison sentence, an eight-month ban on practicing.
Me Morin has indicated his intention to appeal.
“
It should be remembered that all police officers in France consult the TAJ without being prosecuted in corrections.
It is not conceivable that in the file appear only the incriminating elements and not those in the exculpatory
”
, he said, pointing out
“
a lack of loyalty in the legal debate
”.
The policewoman consulted the TAJ outside her working hours to also have information on members of her family, colleagues and public figures.
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