The anti-reconciliation bracelets "are not intended to stay in the drawers," said the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti on Friday, a few days after the feminicide of Mérignac and the questions it raises in terms of follow-up violent spouses.
"I will remind our magistrates in the coming hours," he added, during a press point after a visit to the Rouen court on the subject of domestic violence.
A circular should be sent.
The Chancellery has 1000 anti-reconciliation bracelets, but the courts are struggling for the moment to seize them.
Since their launch in October, only 76 have been "prescribed" and 45 men are currently equipped, according to figures from the ministry dating from May 3.
The device, which has proven itself in Spain, is one of the measures put in place to try to stop the progression of feminicides (90 in 2020, after 146 in 2019).
The electronic bracelet is attached to the ankle and allows geolocation of spouses or violent ex-spouses.
An alert system is triggered when the latter get too close to the victim, who always keeps a box with her, and the authorities are immediately notified.
"I won't have a trembling hand"
Tuesday in Mérignac, near Bordeaux, a man who was serving a prison sentence for domestic violence and who was prohibited from approaching his wife - but was not equipped with a bracelet - shot her before burn her alive, in the middle of the street.
VIDEO.
Feminicide in Mérignac: the suspect said he wanted to "punish" the victim
The man, with a heavy criminal record, was sentenced in June 2020 to one and a half years in prison, including 9 months suspended, for domestic violence. He was released in December, under several conditions, including the ban on contact with his wife, a condition he had not respected. She had filed a complaint in mid-March for a new assault. Wanted, the man had remained "untraceable" according to the police. However, he then presented himself twice to the convocations of the prison administration, without being worried.
The Ministries of Justice and the Interior announced a joint inspection mission on Thursday. It is a question of knowing "exactly if the judicial institution [...] has failed or not", specified Eric Dupond-Moretti this Friday. "If it is a positive answer which is brought to me, I want to tell you in a solemn way that I will not have the hand which trembles", he added. The mission, which is due to make its first conclusions on Tuesday, will have to shed light on the obvious flaws in this affair.