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

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's Cabinet is seeking to show it is in control.(AFP) — French courts have swiftly handed down verdicts, including prison sentences, in expedited proceedings for defendants accused of involvement in rioting that erupted on the sidelines of protests over the weekend.The government says the accelerated legal proceedings are needed to restore order after some of the worst urban violence in recent years erupted Saturday. But courts are also overwhelmed, while some lawyers say the scale of the hearings reeks of state repression.French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said Thursday that courts had sent 217 people to prison over the rioting, out of about 2,700 people detained since Saturday. He added that the figure would continue to rise as more hearings take place.Mathilde B., a 19-year-old student, and Francois D., 20, who said he wants to be a mountain guide, came to Paris on Saturday from Auxerre, a city southeast of the capital. But police found brass knuckles and a switchblade in the young man’s bag and discovered the pair had discussed “guerrilla warfare” and “beating up riot police” on social media.Mathilde B. received a five-month suspended prison sentence, while Francois D. was immediately jailed as part of an eight-month sentence, with two months to be served in custody.Tristan Lawless, a lawyer in Melun, south of Paris, said he was defending a client for whom prosecutors had sought 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.Darmanin said Thursday that, of the 217 people sent to jail, “half had no criminal record,” adding that “in general these are men aged between 18 to 25.”One of the government’s longest-serving and most active members, Darmanin, a former interior minister, is taking a high-profile role as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s Cabinet seeks to show it is in control.Once seen as having presidential ambitions himself, he is a leading supporter of former center-right Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is seen as one of the few candidates capable of defeating far-right front-runner Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential election.“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, or 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.”Manuel, a 21-year-old cook from central France with no criminal record, said he had come to Paris “on a whim” to celebrate his birthday with a friend.But police who stopped him Saturday near 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, with an additional six months suspended.Souleymane, a 19-year-old from Ivory Coast without legal residency status in France, was arrested in northern Paris while allegedly trying to steal a scooter after storming a corner store. He had three previous convictions and was sentenced to eight months in prison and taken into custody.Julien M., 27, a video artist from southeastern France, is accused of hurling a traffic cone that narrowly missed a police officer. He vowed that the protest would be his last, and the court released him under judicial supervision pending a trial in late November.“Prosecutors and judges are imprisoning people who, until now, were not known to the judiciary and are first offenders,” Darmanin said. “It shows that the decisions of the judiciary are being applied in an extremely firm way.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads