Guest of Europe 1, the criminal lawyer Christian Saint-Palais warns about certain adaptations of justice during this health crisis, like the hearings by videoconference, and insists on the need to "give up the organization of certain when the criterion d 'emergency is not there ".

Many sectors are forced to slow down in France, paralyzed by the coronavirus crisis, and justice is no exception to the rule. All assize trials are postponed even if some criminal hearings are still maintained, exclusively before the criminal court. But these are somewhat special hearings where videoconferencing with defendants in pretrial detention is becoming widespread.

This was particularly the case on Wednesday for Christian Quesada, the former game champion sued for corruption of a minor before the court in Bourg en Bresse. The man never set foot in court and has appeared from prison by videoconference.

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Only five people were present in the courtroom: the prosecutor, the three judges and a clerk. Christian Quesada had chosen not to be assisted by a lawyer. He was finally sentenced to 3 years in prison, without witnesses, the public or a journalist. A point which raises questions since it implies the absence of a report of this hearing or of public debate, regretted the lawyer of a child protection association, civil party at the trial, considering that justice has been rendered in the dark.

Recent orders from the Chancellery also allow trials with a single judge where decisions were collegial, as well as the abolition of certain hearings in favor of written procedures, particularly in civil matters, raising the fear of lawyers and magistrates that some of these provisions will continue to exist. beyond the state of health emergency.

Forgo hearings that are not urgent

A fear shared by the criminal lawyer Christian Saint-Palais who wishes to alert on the situation at the microphone of Europe 1. If he recognizes that "in such an exceptional period, there are adaptations of the rule of law" , in particular with the use of videoconferencing for a trial like that of Christian Quesada, "we must be careful not to allow ourselves to have the worry of dealing with too many cases quickly", he underlines, before add: "There are criteria of urgency which can justify that one gives up criteria of quality of the audience but it is necessary to be careful". "Sometimes we are collectively mistaken and we must be careful not to let go of procedures which are sometimes quite comfortable, but which do not meet the requirements of the quality of the rule of law," he insists.

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According to him, certain cases must be postponed rather than being dealt with urgently in this period of health crisis which restricts the possibilities of justice and one should retain only the examination of those very urgent. And if the latter exist, they remain rare, says the criminal lawyer. He takes the example of the immediate appearances that some prosecutors choose to organize but "which do not take place in ideal sanitary conditions". Conversely, the President of Paris chose not to automatically appoint lawyers because "it appeared to him that it was impossible to defend under optimal sanitary conditions for the defendant and for the lawyers. you must therefore know how to give up the organization of certain hearings when the urgency criterion is not there, "he adds.

The Council of State pointed to

And for Me Christian Saint-Palais, this vigilance is the concern of all those involved in justice: "I very much believe in the ability of judges to do what they already do for many of them, it is that is to say to resist this movement which is to move forward at all costs. It is necessary to adapt the modalities of rights, but it is also necessary that each one in his place, be able to alert the other actor of the penal chain to tell him : 'here we must not advance further' ".

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Another actor invited to play this control role is the Council of State. But the lawyer regrets that the latter did not meet their expectations. He was notably seized when the Chancellery decided that it would be possible "to lengthen the provisional detentions without even organizing a debate", he says, adding: "We strongly contest this provision taken because we have renounced the adversarial debate, at the hearing, to keep in pretrial detention persons presumed innocent ". "The Council of State did not even see fit to organize a hearing," he laments, saying "particularly disappointed".

Me Christian Saint-Palais and other members of justice are now considering seizing the European authorities and ensure that they will increase the number of appeals. "It is by speaking out that everyone, including the citizens, must become aware of this and must be vigilant," he concludes.