- With confinement, justice is not at a standstill. "It works, even if it is tight on the essentials", underlines Catherine Pautrat, the president of the court of Nanterre.
- All files are being re-heard according to their degree of urgency.
- Eight Nanterre court staff found positive for Covid-19
Do not tell Catherine Pautrat, president of the judicial court of Nanterre, in the Hauts-de-Seine, that justice is at a standstill. "It is wrong to say that, it works, even if it is tight on the essentials," insists the magistrate. From the start of the health crisis and the coronavirus containment measures, the court established a business continuity plan. Objective: to ensure emergencies while protecting the public and the staff of this palace in which eight people have so far been declared positive for Covid-19. But while a deconfinement date is advanced, the court also prepares the future.
Like every jurisdiction, you have implemented from the start of confinement a business continuity plan to ensure emergencies. How do you operate?
Today, activity is reduced to taking charge of essential litigation, both in criminal and civil matters. We have at least an immediate appearance hearing every day, sometimes a second when there are many cases, when we have to rule on situations of detained persons or on measures of judicial review, which are for us priority situations. In total, at the headquarters, 27 magistrates can be mobilized every day - that is to say about a third of our staff - and nine are present in the court. Depending on the day, there are between five and seven on the parquet floor. The rest of the magistrates are on telework to move forward on their cases, whether it is the drafting of civil judgments, final requisitions for the prosecution or the preparation of interrogations when justice resumes normal course.
Is special attention given to domestic violence?
A magistrate is on duty every day to issue, if necessary, protection orders to victims of domestic violence. Recently, the Minister of the Interior said that these cases had increased by 30% but paradoxically, in our jurisdiction, we have much less. We have, for example, issued 22 protection orders since the start of containment, which is half the amount we usually do. We made the same observation during the immediate appearance hearings where we have fewer files of this type than usual. I think that, despite the arrangements put in place, the victims find it more difficult to travel to file a complaint. Some may also fear that, with confinement, they will not be able to take refuge with relatives or access emergency accommodation. There is a risk of a rebound effect after confinement.
What about violence against minors?
It is exactly the same observation. In immediate appearance, there are almost no cases concerning violence against minors. It is also interesting to note that we have very few presentations of minors for crimes.
Do you have many records of breaches of the containment rules?
During the first month of confinement, we had 28 immediate appearances, three summons by minutes and five criminal applications to the children's judge for minors who did not comply with the confinement measures. But the policy of the prosecution will evolve from next week on the matter: there will be fewer immediate appearances and more criminal compositions. [See box below]
The deconfinement could take place from May 11. How are you preparing for this transition?
We have not yet received the main guidelines from the Ministry of Justice on the conditions for recovery, but we are starting to prepare for it internally with the prosecution and the director of registries. It looks like an equation with several unknowns. What human resources will we have, between vulnerable people and those who have to take care of their children before full resumption of school? How will public transportation work? It will also depend on the protective measures at our disposal, gel, gloves, masks, protective cases ... We hope to resume activity at 50% from May 11. We will then see if we can gradually increase but we must take into account the layout of the premises to ensure compliance with barrier gestures. You cannot, for example, leave three people in the same office.
"There are not enough laptops for all magistrates"
Many, many hearings have been and will continue to be adjourned. How do you deal with this situation?
Between March 16 and May 11, there will be, in civil matters, 432 hearings transferred, or 9,500 files. In criminal proceedings, we counted 114 hearing referrals, or 705 cases. We are in the process of completely reviewing the hearings according to the urgency, between the files carried over, those fixed from May 11 and those which will arrive. But it is certain that after the lawyers' strike which had completely embolished the justice system, certain files will not arrive before 2021, or even much later. Before the confinement, we had two civil chambers in which the audiences were already fixed until 2022.
This health crisis has prompted the courts to set up teleworking, videoconferencing. Do you think it can mark a turning point in the modernization of justice?
In technological matters, we are starting from very low even if efforts had been made in recent years. Just on the issue of laptops: there are not enough for all magistrates and clerks! However, until a vaccine has been found, there is always the risk of new waves of Covid. The crisis has demonstrated the advantage of being able to operate remotely. I was already planning to develop videoconferencing with our seven district courts, I am now convinced that it will be a good thing.
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What activity at the Nanterre parquet floor?
At the Nanterre public prosecutor's office, as in the rest of the jurisdiction, only "emergencies" are maintained. Preliminary long-term investigations are - with a few exceptions - slowed down, the number of openings of judicial information has dropped sharply ... Proof of this lull, police custody have been divided by three during the first month of confinement : less than twenty a day against 60 to 70 on average. For the past two weeks, the pace has been more sustained: between 30 and 40. "The last two weekends have been busy," notes an internal source.
But in this particular context, the magistrates had to deal with the new offense of non-compliance with confinement and put in place appropriate penal responses. At first, offenders with no history were reminded of the law. Only recidivism cases or people with a significant criminal record were brought in for immediate appearances. Since last week, the magistrates have been testing an intermediate response: penal compositions, an alternative to prosecutions nevertheless registered in the criminal record. If the first days of fines were offered to offenders - which did not require the validation of a judge - as of next week other measures will be put in place, including the citizenship internship.
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