For the first time in France, a group action was launched on Wednesday January 27 against the State by an NGO collective which calls on the government to put an end to "discriminatory identity checks" by the police, under penalty to go to court.
This procedure, provided for by the law to modernize the justice of the 21st century voted in 2016, comes after a succession of cases mixing police violence and accusations of racism in the police, including the beating at the end of November of black music producer Michel Zecler.
It also coincides with the launch of "Beauvau de la sécurité", a major national consultation on the police announced by Emmanuel Macron a few days after this assault with a resounding echo in France, the official launch of which is scheduled for next Monday.
>> See also on France 24:
IT'S IN FRANCE - Between the French and the police, the crisis of confidence is growing
"It is not a bad coincidence", recognizes the lawyer Antoine Lyon-Caen, who prepared the formal notice, recalling the remarks at the beginning of December of the Head of State on the face checks at the online media Brut.
“Today, when we have a skin color that is not white, we are much more controlled […]. We are identified as a problem factor and it is unbearable”, recognized the President of the Republic. .
The formal notice specifically targets the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti.
It gives them four months to respond to requests from six NGOs, including Amnesty International France and Human Rights Watch.
Amend the law to better regulate controls
They call in particular for a modification of the code of criminal procedure to "explicitly prohibit discrimination in identity checks", the "creation of an effective and independent complaint mechanism" or "the provision of any person checked. proof of control ", on the model of the receipt.
If, at the end of the formal notice, the associations consider that they have not obtained satisfaction, they "can take legal action and the judges can order the government to take practical measures to put an end to this discrimination", develops Antoine Lyon-Caen.
The formal notice, 350 pages thick, compiles the testimonies of victims collected in nine cities (Paris, Rennes, Beauvais, Lorient, Châtellerault, Eybens, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille) but also of police officers "who tell of the uselessness of controls "and explain the facies controls" by convenience, when it is necessary to make the figure ", reports Me Lyon-Caen.
>> To read also on France24.com:
Police violence in France: behind the excesses, "a structural phenomenon"
The document also recalls the various investigations and legal proceedings which have made it possible to document and certify the reality of this discrimination.
A study conducted in Paris in 2009 by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) showed that in France, people perceived as "black" and "Arab" are respectively checked six and eight times more than those perceived as "white".
More recently, in January 2017, a report by the Defender of Rights concluded that a "young man perceived as black or Arab [...] has a twenty times higher probability" of being controlled than the rest of the population as a whole. .
The state condemned several times
A few months earlier, in November 2016, the Court of Cassation had definitively condemned the State for “facial” identity checks, a first.
In October 2020, the same Court condemned the State for "serious faults", in particular for unjustified identity checks of minors, without however retaining the discrimination.
"This practice is more and more attacked, but the state is not taking measures," laments Slim Ben Achour, a lawyer specializing in discrimination issues who pleaded in these two cases.
"There are no figures on identity checks. A rule of law does not know what law enforcement is doing in one of the main activities of the police, an activity of which it is moreover. in addition to established that it is infringing on fundamental freedoms, "he adds.
After Emmanuel Macron's statements to Brut, the police unions called for an end to the checks, rejecting accusations of racism and explaining "not to choose their delinquency"
"The government does not manage, in the face of the police unions, to put this subject on the table," laments Me Lyon-Caen.
"But, if he has to, things can change."
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR