The fight against organized crime in Corsica must "
further be intensified
", diagnoses a circular from the Ministry of Justice published on Monday, which aims to better combat settling of scores, arms trafficking and money laundering on the island, target of a "
strategy of control
".
"
The criminal phenomena in action represent a constant threat to the balance of the political and economic life of the island
", explains the text, signed by the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, to justify this "
adapted judicial treatment
" in Corsica.
Highest homicide rate
This "
circular relating to territorial criminal policy for Corsica
", presented by the minister on Monday in an interview with Corse-Matin, reaffirms the "
relevance
" of the priorities set more than ten years ago in the circular published by Christiane Taubira in November 2012. But it requires several inflections, while the level of settling of scores, in particular, remains “
particularly worrying
”.
Corsica is the region of metropolitan France with the highest homicide rate, at 0.38 per 10,000 inhabitants in 2021 - more than double the national average.
From 2005 to November 2022, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 177 assassinations or attempted assassinations were classified as suspected or proven settling of scores on the island.
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In terms of settling accounts and extortion, to enrich judicial proceedings, the circular calls
for "developing the use of criminal intelligence
", "
encouraging the use of protective devices
" for witnesses or intensifying exchanges "of information between the JIRS prosecutor's office (specialized interregional jurisdiction) of Marseille, which deals with cases of organized crime, and the prosecutor's offices of Corsica.
Concerning "
the proliferation of weapons of all categories in Corsica
"
,
a "
major concern
"
,
the text encourages the prosecutors to require "
more widely
" the confiscation of weapons, even legally held
,
“
by persons subject to legal proceedings
”.
The circular also calls for the fight against drug trafficking to be made "
a major axis
"
,
while it "has considerably increased and become widespread
in Corsica
"
.
It invites the public prosecutor's offices to
"
put traffickers at a distance from their territories as often as possible in order to curb the strategies of control observed
".
Finally, the Chancellery wishes to "
reinforce the fight against money laundering
" and "
fight more effectively against corruption
"
,
with in particular "
the continuation of the proactive and ambitious policy of seizures and confiscations of criminal assets
".