“The freedom of speech” of an investigating judge “cannot be hindered by political considerations”, the association of investigating magistrates was alarmed on Saturday, “dismayed” by the recent exchanges in Marseille between the Minister of Justice and the magistrates heard by a commission of inquiry into drug trafficking.
“The French Association of Investigating Magistrates (Afmi) has noted with dismay the exchanges that occurred on Tuesday March 19, 2024 at the Marseille judicial court between the Minister of Justice and the magistrates who participated in the recent senatorial commission of inquiry into the impact of drug trafficking in France,” she wrote in a press release.
Dupond-Moretti’s “staggering” reproaches
“It is astonishing that a Minister of Justice can reproach” an investigating judge, who is “a magistrate” and therefore “not subject to (his) hierarchical authority” and “depoliticized in the exercise of his functions” , to “
play into the hands
of this or that political movement during sworn testimony before the elected representatives of the Nation,” she believes.
In Marseille on Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron, who was notably accompanied by his Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, announced the launch of operations known as “Place net XXL” in France in order to “put a stop to trafficking of drugs”.
This surprise visit from the head of state came two weeks after Marseille magistrates sounded the alarm about the power of drug trafficking, before the senatorial commission of inquiry.
“I fear that we are losing the war against traffickers in Marseille,” said one of the magistrates, vice-president of the court responsible for coordinating the JIRS Organized Crime section of the investigation.
The magistrate's statements were not “defeatist”
“Our colleague investigating judge from Marseille portrayed with courage, lucidity and sincerity his perception of the state of drug trafficking in the south of France.
She (…) spoke about the state of the threat and the challenges to responding to it,” notes Afmi.
“It is not a question of defeatism to say that we are losing the fight against drug banditry, and against crime in the broad sense, if the means do not match the challenges,” adds the association, for whom the recent reform of the national police, “is not likely to respond to the legal challenges of the fight against high-end delinquency”.
“In this context, the “Place Net” operations which mobilize, on an ad hoc basis, considerable police resources on public roads cannot be sufficient to stem drug trafficking,” according to Afmi.