“Nearly 75% of May Day Protesters Released Without Prosecution in Paris Police Custody Report”

MAY 1 – Nearly three quarters of the people placed in police custody on the sidelines of the May Day demonstration, Monday in Paris, were released without prosecution, according to a report communicated this Wednesday, May 3 to AFP by the prosecution of Paris.

“281 people were taken into custody” within the framework of this demonstration, recalled the public ministry, specifying in this report established in the middle of the day Wednesday that “129 gave rise to a classification decision without further action” et “74 gave rise to a summons or a presentation before the prosecutor’s delegate for an alternative measure to prosecution”.

Ten of these police custody gave rise to judgments according to order or criminal composition procedures, fifteen people were presented to magistrates for subsequent correctional hearings, also indicated the prosecution.

Denounce police custody ” preventive »

Twenty-five people in police custody were to appear immediately. According to an AFP journalist present at the Paris Court of Justice on Wednesday afternoon, around ten cases have been heard today, but the dismissal of a large majority of them at a later date has been requested, such as right in this type of procedure.

Finally, according to the prosecution, 28 police custody were lifted in order to continue the investigations in the form of preliminary inquiries.

Many lawyers and human rights defenders have denounced since the beginning of the demonstrations against the pension reform arrests and police custody “preventive”.

“Serious violations of fundamental rights”

Last episode to date, the comptroller general of places of deprivation of liberty Dominique Simonnot denounced in a letter of April 17 addressed to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and revealed on Wednesday “serious violations of fundamental rights” by the police during police custody in Paris.

Dominique Simonnot believes that there was a “massive appeal” by the police to this type of measure, “deprivation of liberty for the purpose of maintaining public order”.

In his response dated May 2, Gérald Darmanin argues that the controller ” exceeds its powers, in particular when it denounces “the instrumentalization of police custody measures for repressive purposes” This Wednesday, May 3 at the microphone of Franceinfo, Dominique Simonnot responded to criticism from Gérald Darmanin: “ It’s fair game after all. (…) But what is our job if not to go and check on the spot that people’s rights are respected, are we exactly in our role? »

On March 21, the Defender of Rights Claire Hédon was also alarmed by these arrests.

A total of 540 people were arrested in France, including 305 in Paris, during the May Day demonstrations, Gérald Darmanin said on Tuesday, adding that 406 police and gendarmes had been injured on national territory.

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