France hands out swift verdicts in fast-track justice after riots

• French courts are using fast-track justice after weekend riots, handing out swift jail terms and suspended sentences to restore order.
• Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 2,500 were arrested and 917 prosecuted, calling the response a sign of “great firmness”.
• Lawyers say the process is rushed and harsh, with one calling it “state repression” and warning judges face pressure for tougher penalties.

PARIS - French courts have swiftly handed out verdicts, including orders to serve jail time, in fast-track justice for defendants accused over the rioting that erupted on the sidelines of protests at the weekend.

The government says the accelerated legal processes are needed to restore order after some of the worst urban violence in recent years on Oct 17.

But courts are also overwhelmed, while some lawyers say the scale of the hearings reeks of state repression.

Mathilde B, a student, 19, and 20-year-old Francois D, who said he wants to be a mountain guide, had come to Paris on Oct 17 from Auxerre, a city south-east of the capital.

But police found a knuckleduster and switchblade in the young man’s bag and found the pair had discussed “guerrilla warfare” and “beating up riot police” on social media.

Mathilde B received a five-month suspended prison sentence; but Francois D was sent to jail immediately as part of an eight-month sentence, with two months to be served in custody.

Tristan Lawless, a lawyer at the bar in Melun south of Paris, said he was defending a client for whom prosecutors had demanded a five-month sentence with immediate custody.

He said the trial was taking place “on the basis of a 50-page case file that, in my view, was put together in haste, with reports that are often vague and lacking detail” and alleged his client had been beaten in custody.

‘Pressure on judges’

Speaking on Oct 21 in the southern city of Marseille which saw some of the worst violence, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said that out of some 2,500 people arrested nationwide at the weekend, 917 were being prosecuted, a number he hailed as a “truly impressive figure”.

“The holding cells are full” he said, referring to the units where people are held ahead of trial, adding this was proof of “our great firmness”.

One of the most longstanding and hyperactive members of the government, Darmanin, a former interior minister, is taking a high profile as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s Cabinet seeks to show it is in control.

Once seen as having presidential ambitions himself, he is a leading supporter of former centre-right premier Edouard Philippe who is seen as one of the few candidates capable of defeating far-right frontrunner Marine Le Pen in 2027 elections.

“We’re here to firmly oppose what we see as an attempt by Gerald Darmanin to make the justice system more punitive,” said Paris lawyer Romain Ruiz, a member of the “Colere noire” (Black anger) collective which is highly critical of the judicial system.

He accused Darmanin of “putting pressure on judges in pursuit of harsher penalties” and “publicly celebrating the imprisonment of young people”.

“We will never accept that the justice system should become an arm of repression.”

‘Perhaps unprecedented’

Manuel, a 21-year-old cook from central France with no prior criminal record said he had come to Paris “on a whim” to celebrate his birthday with a friend.

But police who stopped him on Oct 17 close to the starting point of a demonstration, found several glass bottles, some rags, and a lighter – what the prosecutor described as “the perfect kit” for a Molotov cocktail. He was sentenced to two months in prison and another six suspended.

Souleymane, a 19-year-old from Ivory Coast without valid residency in France, was arrested in northern Paris while allegedly trying to steal a scooter after storming a corner shop. Convicted three times previously, he was sentenced to eight months in prison and taken into custody.

Julien M, 27, a video artist from south-east France, is accused of hurling a traffic cone which just missed a policeman. He vowed that the protest would be his last and the court set him free under judicial control until a trial at the end of November.

In comments on Oct 20 in the northern city of Lille, also badly hit by rioting, Darmanin said 150 people had already been sent to prison, a colossal figure in a country where short sentences are often served outside of prison with electronic tags.

“People with no previous criminal record are being sent to prison. This is extremely unusual, perhaps even unprecedented, for offences involving damage to property,” he added. AFP