Masks for agents, regulation of the public in the courts, prioritization of files… One week before the deconfinement, Nicole Belloubet, the Minister of Justice, presented this Tuesday, her first tracks for the “progressive” resumption of activity judicial.
Since the introduction of containment on March 17, judicial activity has slowed down, reduced to civil and criminal emergencies. Consequence: Thousands of non-priority cases have been dismissed, adding to the already large stock of un judged files, after two months of a massive strike by lawyers against the pension reform.
Priority to "delinquency on the public highway" and to domestic violence
In an interview with Ouest-France , the Minister of Justice announces a transitional period "of three weeks" in the courts from May 11 to "ensure a gradual resumption of all activity", accompanied by health measures . Among them, the distribution of "general public masks" for agents and hydroalcoholic gels, "unused" seats for more distance in the courtrooms and a "regulated" opening to the public to "avoid a rebound in the epidemic, ”explains Nicole Belloubet.
To help "restart the judicial activity", the Minister plans "a temporary reinforcement of 1,000 temporary workers". An "inspection mission" is responsible for examining the "precise" situation of the courts. In order to absorb the stock of pending files, the Keeper of the Seals will "allow prosecutors to review the hearing calendar and prioritize the files". Priority will be given in particular to "delinquency in the public thoroughfare" and domestic violence, she underlines. But she once again said that she was "unfavorable" to an amnesty law, which she said "(would return) to the sentences pronounced by the courts".
Court vacations reduced by one or two weeks?
On the question of the “complex” resumption of the assize trials, the minister wants to “widen the lists of jurors to be sure of being able to constitute the juries” and evokes the possibility “of renting rooms outside” when the respect barrier gestures cannot be guaranteed in assize courts. It also wishes to "extend the experimentation of the criminal courts", currently carried out in nine departments to judge crimes without popular jury. "Several jurisdictions are candidates," says Nicole Belloubet.
To make up for the delay, the minister also plans to reduce court vacations, from one to two weeks depending on the jurisdiction. Returning to the automatic extension of provisional detentions without the intervention of the judge, one of the most criticized provisions of the state of health emergency, Nicole Belloubet ensures that this measure can be lifted as soon as "the deconfinement will be pronounced".
Avoiding an epidemic rebound in prisons
The "historic" fall in the prison population continues in French prisons, with "about 60,600" currently detained according to the minister, or about "12,000" less than on March 16. This decrease is explained by both a decrease in delinquency during confinement and early releases.
But "the prison population will necessarily increase with the resumption of criminal activity", warns the Keeper of the Seals, who calls during the transitional period to "absolutely ensure to control prison pressure (...) to avoid an epidemic rebound in detention" . "Beyond this period, we must reflect on the control of prison overcrowding and on the sustainable improvement of conditions of detention," says Nicole Belloubet.
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- Nicole Belloubet
- Deconfinement
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- Coronavirus