Agrandissement : Illustration 1
Article source: "Comment créer un état d'urgence respectueux, la recette de Jacques Toubon", Pierre Alonso. Libération, 26/02/2016.
On the same day the state of emergency was extended, the French State Ombudsman or ‘Defender of Rights’, Jacques Toubon, said once more what a terrible measure he thought it was. ‘In early February, I expressed my fear that France might be taken into an era of suspicion.* And today my fear has become a reality,’ he acknowledged during a press conference in his imposing residence, just around the corner from the French justice ministry and only a stone’s throw from the National Assembly.
Jacques Toubon has set out his grim vision of France under the state of emergency based on the 70 official complaints he has received. Undaunted, Toubon has developed a set of guidelines for a ‘respectful state of emergency’:
Lose the Balaclavas
Toubon has been concerned above all about property searches without court orders, as they have sometimes resulted in bizarre scenes: unlocked doors broken down with battering rams, excessive numbers of police officers all wearing balaclavas, searches carried out at night with no justification. The ‘Defender of Rights’ has questioned whether all this is appropriate and recommended more proportionate responses.
Mind the Children
On December 2, a mother of four was woken in the middle of the night for a police search. The gendarmes entered the flat and pointed their weapons at her children — aged 17, 16, 13 and 7 — in their bedroom. Another mother made a similar complaint, citing officers ‘carrying rifles and batons’ who showed up at the flat she shares with her 15-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. The father had left for Algeria several months before, but the officers seemed unaware of this fact. The whole family, and especially the youngest child, are said to be ‘traumatized’ by the number of police officers traipsing through their home.
For the Defender of Rights, the greatest cause for concern was the effect these night-time raids could have on younger people. He alluded to the list of precautions officers should take during police operations where children are present, proposed by his predecessor, Dominique Baudis, in 2012: avoiding handcuffing parents in front of their children, taking off their balaclavas when talking to them, keeping them in a separate room… ‘Unfortunately, during property searches, some behaviour does not meet these standards’, Toubon noted euphemistically.
Handle Complaints Better
Only a small fraction of people manage to get a copy of a search order, which is useful insofar as it gives an indication, however vague, of why they have been targeted. Toubon would like this to become a matter of course, to make it easier for people to bring cases before the appropriate authorities, and to access information about possible compensation.
Trace False Accusations
Why did the police search this particular property or place this particular person under house arrest? Most of the time, questions like these are left unanswered due to the lack of transparency surrounding the measures. Even in the administrative courts, the interior ministry only provides ‘notes blanches’ (literally ‘white notes’, ed.): loose sheets with no header, no signature, not even a date, which tend to contain assertions rather than actual evidence. This information comes from ‘human sources’ — undercover agents or informants — the interior ministry staff have repeatedly insisted.
When it comes to ‘anonymous tip-offs’, Jacques Toubon would like any allegation to be verified by a speedy administrative investigation, in order to prevent false accusations, which he would like to see reported to the public prosecutor so that those responsible can be indicted for criminal libel.
No to Permanent Measures
Fighting the constitutionalisation of the state of emergency seems like a lost cause. The bill has already been passed by the National Assembly and will certainly be passed by the Senate next month. But this has not stopped the Ombudsman from expressing his regret that the only limit set has been on the period of enforcement, which is restricted to four months. However, no limit has been set on the number of times it can be extended.
During his most recent cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Manuel Valls has made it clear that he will keep fighting for the extension of the state of emergency until the latest bill against terrorism comes into force. This bill goes by the snappy name of: ‘the bill to strengthen the fight against organised crime, terrorism and their funding, and to improve the efficacy and guarantees of criminal proceedings.’ For Toubon, this would amount to giving administrative police permanent powers which they were supposed to have been accorded temporarily during a period of exceptional threat. He disapproves of this ‘slippage’ and intends to make himself heard by the presidents of both the National Assembly and the Senate, by presenting his analysis to them and to the members of both chambers, in order to ‘avoid such a serious weakening of rights.’
Translated by Julie Marechal and Clément Beshers
Editing by Sam Trainor
EDITOR'S NOTES
* Toubon has repeatedly referred to l'ère des suspects. While this may simply mean an 'era of suspicion', as it has been translated here, considering his role in the constitution, the possibility exists that this is an erudite reference to the loi des suspects and the French Terreur. This law was the definitive piece of legislation during the Terreur following the French Revolution, which allowed people suspected of anti-republican activities or beliefs to be imprisoned or even executed without due process. As such, it is the classic historical example of an abuse of civil rights on the part of a republican government in France.