On November 23, 3,000 magistrates signed a column, published in Le Monde, which denounced their working conditions. A week later, their counterparts in the Bobigny court persisted and signed a motion drafted by the Union du Syndicat de la Magistrature (USM) and the Syndicat de la Magistrature (SM). Of the 140 judges and 57 prosecutors in office, 105 votes were counted for the motion.
“It comes at a democratic moment of the tribunal, where we set the workload for the coming year,” said Maximin Sanson, of the USM. The content of this text carries the same claims. “We demand a substantial and rapid increase in material resources, the number of registry officials and the number of magistrates in the courts”, deplore the signatories of Bobigny. When the “3,000” of the tribune were indignant “of a justice which reasons only in figures, which times and records everything”. To date, the number of signatories has increased to 6,125 magistrates and clerks.
This Wednesday, the second court in France – by the volume of cases – drives the point home. Magistrates regret “not being able to exercise our functions in conditions that are dignified both for us and for those who are litigated”. Supporting figures, they compare the European average and the situation in their jurisdiction. “If the Bobigny court were to have the same number of judges per capita as in the average for Council of Europe countries, there should not be 140 judges, but 292.”
The signatories refuse to participate in the States General of justice
Just as there should be not 57 prosecutors, but 186. “Despite the government’s commitments on the staff of the prosecution, two positions will remain vacant in January 2022, further hampering the quality of the criminal response, which has already deteriorated significantly on the subject. department ”, underlines the magistrate. An effort in the allocation of post had however been made since the end of 2016, increasing the number of judges from 114 to 139 and by recruiting 13 new prosecutors and 35 clerks.
To illustrate the under-endowment of justice, he takes for example the feminicide of Épinay. Last Friday, a woman was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend who was released from prison. The victim had not been informed of the release of this man who had just served a sentence for domestic violence. “For each feminicide, we should organize a general inspection of justice. If we had had 186 parquet floorers, personalized follow-up could have been set up, ”he believes.
Bobigny’s text also comes into play at the time when the States General of Justice have been held since mid-October, shunned by the signatories. “We are awaiting a real reform aimed at restoring listening and thinking time, and strengthening the independent status of judges and prosecutors. However, they only aim to accelerate violent and dehumanizing rationalization, ”he continues, specifying that the signatories of the motion will not participate.
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