« We must let the judges do their job » – Liberation

When one of the laying of the judicial institution in France responds to his supervisory minister. « We must let the judges do their work in serenity », estimated this Thursday, June 5, Rémy Heitz, the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, in response to the government’s desire to establish in the law of « Minimum penalties » After violence on the sidelines of coronation of PSG Saturday, May 31, in the Champions League.

« I would still like to register for false, in a very categorical way, compared to the alleged laxity of the judges, added one of the two highest magistrates in France, on France Inter. The judges do their job. (…) There have been sanctions, individual sanctions. ” While The big party after the PSG victory was darkened by numerous incidents and degradations in Paris and in regions, the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, offered Tuesday of « Radically develop the law » In particular by removing the arrangements of compulsory sentence and the stay.

“The judges understand and hear this need for firmness. And in this case, the sentences that have been pronounced are not light sentences ”, said Rémy Heitz. Four people were sentenced on Monday evening To sentences of two to eight months’ suspended imprisonment, accompanied by 500 euros fine, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. On Tuesday, eight were sentenced to prison terms, ranging from five months suspended sentence to fifteen months firm with deposit warrant.

« The difficulty in this type of business (…) is that there is a very strong gap between the images of these violence seen on television and sometimes the reality of the facts that we blame, explained the highest magistrate of the prosecution. What we judge is a person, a man or a woman who is in the box and to whom we attribute a fact or precise facts, sometimes moreover with evidence difficulties, because the investigations are conducted within very short deadlines and sometimes the evidence is relatively light. « 

In addition, Rémy Heitz stressed that « The majority of persons sentenced to suspended prison terms », a pain « Important » According to him, « Do not recur », which makes it a sanction « Useful in still many situations ». « If we delete the stay today, we must be able to replace it », he also recalled, or « If we replace it with imprisonment, there we would be in a situation (…) totally impossible », Referring in particular to prison overcrowding.