The mission concluded that ‘there are large-scale
violations of the French government’s obligations under
the European Convention on Human Rights’, describing
the consequences of these violations as ‘extremely
worrying’, not just for the victims, of course, but also
because the practices disclosed by the mission are
such that ‘certain rights enshrined and safeguarded by
the Constitution and
international instruments to
which France is a party
become virtually void’. The
Mission was completed with
‘the feeling that the system
that prevails in the fight
against terrorism is a shortsighted
system, more
designed to impress public
opinion than to bring those
who have committed acts of
terrorism to justice.’
The FIDH recommends that
‘the special status of the
14th section of the Public
Prosecutor’s department of
the Criminal Court in Paris be
abolished’, as to the FIDH
mission, since the
concentration of already very comprehensive powers
under French ‘common law’ in the hands of just four
investigators explains ‘a large proportion of facts that
give serious cause for concern’. One of the nine
recommendations to French authorities is that ‘the
accusation of ‘criminal association in connection with
terrorist activities’ be abandoned, which means that
‘the field where proceedings can be opened and where
the number of people accused without any
presumption of an act of terrorism in the strict sense
of the term becomes so vast that it is virtually
unlimited’. It is also recommended that the defence be
able to exercise its rights under decent conditions,
such as through the abolition of ‘systematically
prolonged police custody and a shorter period on
remand, especially when this period is in truth aimed
at putting pressure on the detainee for lack of
sufficient evidence’.
The FIDH mission points out that a ‘pre-condition for
legitimacy, credibility and efficiency’ of the fight against
terrorism is the highest respect for fundamental
principles of the protection of the rights of the
individual’.
The report of this mission notably contains an analysis
of anti-terrorist legislation and procedures applicable
under the European Convention on Human Rights
(Chapters IV and V), a
summary of the problems of
Corsica and the Basque
territories (Chapter VI), an
investigation into the
Ramazan Alpaslan and
Medhi Ghomri cases
(Chapters VII and VIII), as
well as the ‘preventive raid’
of 26th May, 1998 (Chapter
IX), and some observations
on the French juges
d’instruction (investigating
magistrates) in Chapter X,
defence lawyers and legal
aid (Chapter XI).
This mission, carried out by
Michael McColgan, a British
lawyer (rapporteur) and
Alessandro Attanasio, an
Italian lawyer, had been mandated by the FIDH on the
request of its affiliate, the French League of Human
and Citizen’s Rights. The enquiry was carried out with
the help of Mr. Jean-Pierre Dubois, Vice-President of
the French Human Rights League, and took place from
April to November in 1998, covering Paris, Ajaccio and
Bayonne, where meetings with all the relevant
authorities were arranged.