The comptroller general of places of deprivation of liberty Dominique Simonnot denounces "
serious violations of fundamental rights
" by the police during police custody of people arrested in Paris in demonstrations against pension reform.
In a letter dated April 17 addressed to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and of which AFP has read, Ms. Simonnot ridicules a "
massive recourse
" by the police to "
preventive
" arrests and custody.
.
“
Certain agents, she writes, had had for '' instructions and hierarchical orders to arrest without distinction '' any person being in a sector or another of the capital ”
.
In his response dated May 2, consulted by AFP, Gérald Darmanin argues that the controller "
exceeds her powers, especially when she denounces ''the instrumentalization of police custody measures for repressive purposes''"
.
Preventive arrests
From the start of the challenge to the pension reform, associations, political parties, magistrates and lawyers denounced “
preventive arrests
” during the demonstrations.
On March 21, the Defender of Rights Claire Hédon was also alarmed by these arrests.
On several occasions, the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nuñez has taken issue with these accusations: “
preventive arrests do not exist
”.
In view of the "
very many arrests
", Ms. Simonnot explains that she "
urgently ordered visits to certain police custody premises in Paris
".
Thus “on
March 24 and 25, three teams of controllers visited nine Parisian police stations to check the conditions of care for those arrested
” and “
to ensure respect for their fundamental rights
”.
The conclusion of these checks is damning, Ms. Simonnot reporting "
serious violations of the fundamental rights of those imprisoned
".
On the one hand "
because of the material conditions of care in certain premises
" and on the other hand because of "
the large number of procedures carried out in disregard of the standards and principles which govern the procedure of police custody, even, in certain situations, in violation of the applicable texts
”.
She thus denounces “
irregularities in the documents relating to the arrest and the indigence of the elements making it possible to characterize the offense or the attempted offense in question
”.
"
These deficiencies, affecting the procedural documents, she adds, are particularly alarming.
»
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Procedures closed without follow-up
The comptroller further notes that while “
80% of proceedings are closed without further action once the control of the judicial authority has been carried out, the minority of those referred (...) leave the court free”
.
The Minister disputes Ms. Simonnot's reasoning, arguing that the search for evidence to establish individual responsibility during "
collective scenes of violence
" is "
often hampered by those involved who are experienced in investigative techniques
".
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For him, the fact that the judicial authority then considers the offenses “
as insufficiently characterized
” does not mean “
in no way an absence of initial offence
”.
Ms. Simonnot considers that the "
instructions given by the police headquarters and the Paris prosecutor's office in particular (...) reveal a massive recourse, as a preventive measure, to the deprivation of liberty for the purpose of maintaining public order"
.
For the Comptroller General, “
this approach to maintaining order not only reveals an instrumentalization of police custody measures for repressive purposes but also a diversion of the role of the judicial authority whose role (...) does not is not to guarantee the legal certainty of police measures, a fortiori when they are knowingly taken in disregard of the law
".
