France: open doors of justice to restore trust with citizens
Audio 01:32
This Tuesday, legal professionals gathered in the courts to explain the legal process to the public and restore trust between justice and citizens.
REUTERS / Christian Hartmann
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Justice opened its doors everywhere in France this Tuesday, June 29.
At the call of the unions of magistrates, lawyers and clerks, legal professionals gathered in the courts.
The goal: to explain the judicial process to the public and to restore trust between justice and citizens.
Report to the Paris court.
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Black dresses of lawyers, civilian clothes of magistrates, in the great hall of the court, about fifteen legal professionals gathered. “
We organized these open days because justice was under serious attack,”
explains David Van der Vlist, general secretary of the Lawyers' Union.
It seemed important to us, magistrates, clerks, lawyers, to remind people that anyone can come and watch the trials, see how justice is done.
"
The aim is therefore to encourage the public to go to the courtrooms. These open days mainly brought together lawyers. But Élodie Lefebvre, lawyer at the Paris bar, was still able to discuss with some curious: “
We had questions about the hidden sides of the profession. We are not here to do free consultations. We are really there to discuss the functioning of the judicial institution and allow this exchange, which is extremely important.
"
However, it is in the hope of advancing his sister's litigation file that Mohammed Kaba went to the Paris court.
“
They explained their work to me, why they were there, to denounce a lack of resources,” he
says.
And when I see a file like my sister's, I tell myself that it may be related.
If there had been more resources, there would have been fewer failures.
"
Indeed, for lawyers, magistrates and clerks, these open doors were an opportunity to voice their discontent.
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