Covering events from January - December 2002

FRENCH REPUBLIC
Head of state: Jacques Chirac
Head of government: Jean-Pierre Raffarin (replaced Lionel Jospin in June)
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
International Criminal Court: ratified

Jews and Arabs were the victims of widespread racist attacks. Incidents of police brutality, a number of which related to foreign nationals or French nationals of foreign origin, were reported. Police use of a gun that fires rubber bullets was extended, raising concern about a possible increase in injuries. Some court judgments in cases involving excessive use of force by police officers, or police ill-treatment, compounded long-standing concerns about effective impunity. The death of an Argentine national during forcible deportation raised concern about methods of restraint. The form of administrative confinement known as "assignation à résidence" continued to be applied to some foreign nationals. Some detainees and prisoners reported to be seriously ill were being held in conditions that aroused fears for their physical or mental integrity.


Background

May's presidential election, centred on the theme of law and order, was won overwhelmingly by President Jacques Chirac, after the Socialist Party candidate, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, was edged out of the first round by the extreme-right National Front party of Jean-Marie Le Pen. The latter's first-round success brought tens of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets to protest, among other things, against the party's immigration policies.

Parliamentary elections in June resulted in a landslide victory for the centre-right Union for the Presidential Majority.

The new government acted swiftly to reorganize law enforcement and increase police powers. Justice reforms in place from September provided for the provisional detention, in certain circumstances, of minors from the age of 13 and the establishment of "closed educational centres" for some children.

A draft law on internal security, presented in October, proposed to outlaw public soliciting, unauthorized encampments of travellers, "aggressive" collective begging, and gatherings in public spaces within residential buildings. There would also be prison terms and fines for verbal abuse of any public official. At the end of the year a new draft law was proposed which, if approved would extend existing provisions of the 96-hour special custody regime to a wider range of offences, including "organized crime", and so increase the numbers of people likely to be denied access to a lawyer for the first 36 hours of police custody.

Racist attacks

Arabs continued to be the main target of daily acts of a racist nature. There was also a wave of attacks on the large Jewish community, with up to 395 anti-Semitic incidents recorded during March and April alone. During that time several synagogues, including those in Lyon, Montpellier and Strasbourg, were vandalized. A synagogue in Marseille was burned down and there was a fire at a Jewish school near Paris.

In May, in a joint statement, AI and Human Rights Watch condemned racist attacks on Jews and Arabs in a number of European countries, including France, and called on the French authorities, among others, to redouble their efforts to combat racism in all its forms and to bring to justice suspected perpetrators of "hate crimes". In December proposed legislation to increase penalties for offences of a "racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic nature" was presented to parliament.

Police brutality

Cases of police brutality were reported. They frequently involved disputes arising from police identity checks. In April several lawyers' associations expressed concern that such checks – which have led in recent years to increasing numbers of people being charged by police with "insulting behaviour" or "rebellion" – tended to occur in urban areas of particular "sensitivity". Such areas have large populations of young people of non-European ethnic origin.

  • French national Karim Latifi alleged that in February he was racially abused and physically assaulted by police officers after intervening in an incident in a Paris street. He said that up to 15 officers were present at the assault, during which he was allegedly hit with truncheons, punched and kicked. As a result, his head became swollen and his nose was broken. He was held at a police station for about 15 minutes, after which he was told that he would not be charged. Karim Latifi lodged a criminal complaint, which was set aside by the prosecutor in July on the grounds that the investigation into the complaint had "not been able to distinguish sufficiently the nature of the offence" to enable prosecution. However, this was an administrative decision and judicial proceedings were continuing.
  • On 31 December a lawyer, Daniel François, was asked to assist a 17-year-old boy held in police custody at Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis). The lawyer notified the duty officer that he wished to register that his client had been subjected to acts of violence by police officers, but his attempts to do so were reportedly obstructed. After an argument Daniel François was allegedly thrown out of the police station by six or seven officers, but returned. He was then stripped, held for 15 hours and charged with "rebellion" and "insulting behaviour". Daniel François subsequently took his client to hospital for treatment of head, nose and leg injuries.
Flashball guns

In May the Interior Minister announced that police on patrol would increasingly be equipped with the "non-lethal" or "less lethal" Flashball gun, which fires supple rubber bullets that squash on impact. The decision to extend the use of Flashball guns was taken after various police officers had come under attack. AI wrote to the Minister in June, stating that while international standards encouraged the development of non-lethal incapacitating weapons insofar as they reduced the situations in which police officers might otherwise resort to firearms, the organization was concerned about reports that the Flashball bullets could cause serious and even lethal injuries when fired at close range. AI also expressed fears that there was a risk that officers would begin to rely on such weapons instead of applying non-violent means, or would fire at dangerously close range, unless training was rigorous and regular. In October the Interior Minister replied that, since Flashball guns had been brought into use, there had been only one criminal investigation into their application, and the investigation had been set aside by the prosecutor. The Minister added that the number of criminal investigations into the use by police of their traditional service weapons had diminished by a quarter in the past decade, and that there was regular training in the use of all bullet-firing weapons.

Ill prisoners

In September Maurice Papon, a former high-ranking government official and Paris police chief, was released from prison, where he was serving a 10-year sentence for crimes against humanity. Maurice Papon – whose inability to appeal against his sentence had been ruled unfair by the European Court of Human Rights in July – was released under the humanitarian provisions of a new law of 4 March 2002 on the rights of ill people. According to the law, prisoners' sentences can be indefinitely suspended if they are critically ill or suffering from a chronic condition incompatible with their detention. In December, given widespread concern about the number of prisoners suffering from AIDS, terminal cancer and other severe or chronic illnesses, AI sought information from the government about the number of prisoners who had benefited from the law. AI also reiterated its concern that prolonged isolation may have a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of prisoners and may, in some circumstances, amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. AI asked for information about the current circumstances of four prisoners, all members of the former armed group Action Directe (Direct Action), in particular Georges Cipriani and Nathalie Ménigon, whose deteriorating health after long periods in isolation was a long-standing concern.
  • Alain Solé remained in provisional detention at the end of the year – more than three years after his arrest in October 1999 in connection with alleged illegal activities by the Breton nationalist group Emgann. He reportedly did not receive adequate medical care for his diabetes in the first months following arrest. He reportedly became insulin-dependent in prison and tried to commit suicide in March 2001 after becoming ill with a viral condition. In October 2002 he was reportedly transferred to the prison hospital of Fresnes with circulatory problems affecting one leg, which required surgery. AI wrote to the Justice Ministry in December stating that, according to international standards, everyone had the right to trial within a reasonable time or release, and that in the case of those held in provisional detention, the obligation on the government to expedite trials was even more pressing. AI stated that if Alain Solé required ongoing and specialized medical care, his continuing detention was of particular concern.
Effective impunity

Some judicial resolutions in cases of deaths in custody compounded long-standing concerns that courts were still unwilling to pass sentences that reflected the gravity of the crime. A police officer convicted in July for the fatal shooting of an unarmed man, Riad Hamlaoui, in April 2000 was given a three-year suspended sentence and therefore remained at liberty at the end of the year.

In other cases, such as that of the death in custody of Edouard Salumu Nsumbu in October 2001, there was concern that investigations were not being pursued with due diligence. The Interior Minister informed AI in October that the investigating judge had not yet completed inquiries into the death of Edouard Salumu, a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • More than 11 years after the death in custody of 18-year-old Aïssa Ihich, the Court of Appeal of Versailles in February upheld the convictions against two police officers for acts of violence, but reduced their sentences from 10-month to eight-month suspended prison terms. This made the officers eligible for an amnesty and allowed them to pursue police careers. The appeal court also upheld the conviction against a doctor involved in the case. Aïssa Ihich died of an asthma attack in May 1991 at Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) police station. Gendarmes testified that Aïssa Ihich had been assaulted by police immediately before his death.
Death during forcible deportation

Argentine national Ricardo Barrientos died on an aeroplane at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport during an attempt in December to forcibly deport him to Argentina. He was reportedly escorted, struggling, on to the aircraft before other passengers embarked, seated and then held, handcuffed, in a "folded" position by two uniformed officers, who applied pressure to his shoulder blades. Ricardo Barrientos reportedly collapsed before take-off. Minutes later he was examined on the aircraft by a doctor, who pronounced him dead. An autopsy apparently concluded that he had died of a heart attack, and a police inquiry concluded that procedures had been respected. AI was nevertheless concerned that the death raised questions about methods of restraint during forcible deportation and the extent to which they comply with international standards.

Administrative detention of foreign nationals

A number of foreign nationals, including Iraqi Kurds, who could not be returned to their countries because of the dangers they faced, were reportedly "assigned" to various designated areas under a procedure known as "assignation à résidence". Although this form of administrative detention, which restricts the person's movements to specific and limited geographical areas, may be considered preferable to expulsion, AI was concerned that it could be imposed indefinitely without recourse to a court of law and without the affected person being told the reason for the confinement.
  • Salah Ben Hédi Ben Hassen Karker, a Tunisian political refugee, was "assigned" to Digne-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) in 1995 and has remained there ever since. AI has repeatedly appealed to the authorities to review the case. In December it wrote again to the government asking for further information about the situation of Salah Karker, the total number of people who had been "assigned" and the reasons for their confinement.

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