“No one is above the law”: the government tempers the words of the boss of the police

2023-07-28 16:49:42

The polemical remarks of Frédéric Veaux on the pre-trial detention of the police continue to make waves within the majority. “I totally support him”, reacted this Thursday Gérald Darmanin, when he received the police unions. The director general of the police said last Sunday in an interview with Le Parisien that a police officer “has no place in prison” before a trial, returning to the provisional detention of a police officer suspected of having fired at the flash-ball on young Hedi during the riots in Marseille.

The Minister of Public Service, Stanislas Guerini, thus underlined on BFMTV and RMC that in the Republic “no one is above the law” nor “below” in particular with regard to the presumption of innocence which “must apply to all citizens and particularly to the forces of order”. He also insisted on the “separation of powers”. “The independence of justice has sometimes been called into question, it must apply,” said the minister.

This Friday morning on France Inter, the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune also recalled several “principles” such as “the presumption of innocence which obviously applies to the police (…) and to all” and “the independence of justice which also applies to all cases. “No one is above the law, that obviously applies to everyone. This does not prevent emotions, anger, a feeling, but justice is not up to the justice of emotion, ”he argued.

“No one is above the law”

“The independence of justice (…) is not opposed to the police”, insisted Clément Beaune. “When justice is strong, the police are stronger, when the police can do their job, justice can be done.”

In an interview at Free lunch broadcast this Thursday, the Minister of Education Gabriel Attal said that he had “did not understand the words that Frédéric Veaux used on pre-trial detention”. “The Republic is held together by its pillars: in particular the school, the police, the justice system. If one of them gives the impression of questioning the legitimacy of another, the whole building could be weakened, ”he noted.

Opposing the judges to the police harms the Republic. All must by function apply the law, respect the citizens and participate in the manifestation of the truth. Any other attitude feeds mistrust.#Hedi @E_DupondM @GDarmanin @Elisabeth_Borne

— Richard Ferrand (@RichardFerrand) July 27, 2023

“Opposing the judges to the police harms the Republic”, also wrote this Thursday on X, Richard Ferrand, former president of the National Assembly.

On the move in Vaucluse this Friday afternoon, the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond-Moretti for his part affirmed that “justice needs respect, like the police. She needs us to let her work”.

Senior magistrates also expressed this Friday “their concern” after statements by Gérald Darmanin on a “presumption of guilt” weighing, according to him, on the police in legal cases, a new “attack”, according to them, on the independence of justice.