Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice -

JC Tardivon / SIPA

In order to "respond to the grievances of elected officials" targets of insults and attacks, the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti published his first circular on Monday to better defend mayors who are victims of "outrages".

"A systematic and rapid penal response must be provided by the prosecutors who will avoid simple reminders of the law", according to the circular sent to prosecutors.

"With regard to insults, it will be appropriate to retain the qualification of contempt of a person holding public authority or charged with a public service mission rather than that of insults", underlines the text.

Support for elected officials

The qualification of contempt allows in particular the imposition of community service sentences.

"This circular responds to the grievances of elected officials", explained the Minister of Justice during a meeting.

"The elected officials felt that they were not sufficiently supported, sufficiently helped in the missions entrusted to them and are more and more complex," he said.

"Elected officials, mayors in particular, we must protect them".

255 cases of attacks on elected officials reported between 2019 and today

The circular also provides for penalties "prohibition to appear or stay" on the territory of the municipality for people who have attacked elected officials.

For more serious facts, she recommends immediate appearance.

According to the Chancellery, 255 cases of attacks on elected officials were reported to the Directorate of Criminal Affairs and Pardons (DACG) by the general prosecutors during the year 2019 and until August 21, 2020. 41% of these cases constitute offenses against persons, this rate reaching 63% when the victim is a mayor.

233 mayors attacked from January to July

According to figures from the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), 233 mayors were assaulted from January to July.

For the whole of 2019, they had been 383 to suffer blows or insults, against 361 in 2018. "Each insult addressed to a mayor in the exercise of his functions, it is an insult to the Republic", a underlined Eric Dupond-Moretti.

"If the Keeper of the Seals cannot intervene in ongoing cases, he can however give prosecutors a certain number of instructions provided they are not individual," recalled the Minister.

Because, he added, if "the penal response rate is 100% concerning elected officials, what is wrong is sometimes the delays that elapse between the referral to justice and its response".

No prison for a simple insult

The circular should help speed up the execution of court decisions and put an end to the feeling of loneliness of mayors.

In the meantime, the minister rebelled against "the little music that sets in and sometimes becomes a symphony saying that justice does nothing".

However, "nobody can imagine that an insult leads someone to prison".

But, he added, "the judicial response must be immediately visible".

“Bench judges have the freedom to choose the sentence they want to choose.

Me, the sentence I wish it just ”, he specified, noting that“ just sentences ”can sometimes be“ severe ”.

Justice and nuance

"Things must be nuanced when we talk about justice," insisted Eric Dupond-Moretti, crushed this weekend by the president of the National Rally for, according to Marine Le Pen, preferring alternatives to prison.

“What I want is to build a penal policy with efficiency and nuance.

We cannot be in the caricature when we are preparing a penal policy ”, he affirmed.

“These are subjects that are too sensitive, too delicate to be brought up with a punch”.

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  • Insult

  • Mayor

  • Justice

  • Aggression

  • Eric Dupond-Moretti