The numbers are stubborn. The CEPEJ (European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, an offshoot of the Council of Europe) considers that, for a population equivalent to that of the Grenoble region, the Grenoble court should have 138 judges. It now has 43. “France has another standard indeed”, notes Anne Auclair-Rabinovitch, the president of the jurisdiction, well obliged to do with the means allocated by the Ministry.
Same story on the parquet side: “all the simplifications, all the operational improvements that I have been able to put in place, deplores the prosecutor Eric Vaillant, are not enough to manage the cases that come to us every year, and to manage the new reforms that give us additional powers and additional missions every year.” The famous European standards recommend multiplying by two or three the number of prosecutors in Grenoble. Eric Vaillant, he believes that with only two additional magistrates he would be “the king of the world”. But he does not despair of being heard… and wants to remain positive.
From 11 to 4 months of delays
Thereupon, president and prosecutor agree to salute the exemplary investment of their colleagues, magistrates and clerks, despite the “loss of meaning” that the lack of staff can cause – a feeling expressed by more than 7,000 magistrates in a column published at the end of last year. And all is not so bad; only, it is necessary to define priorities. In civil matters, it is family matters. At the beginning of 2020, the lawyers’ strike, then above all the surge of the Covid had almost frozen the civil activity of the court. Consequence: the files have accumulated and, at the end of 2020, it took 11 months to process a file. However, in these family cases, the situation can degenerate over time, underlines Anne Auclair-Rabinovitch, and lead to violence and therefore criminal offenses – hence the need to process these cases within a reasonable time. Today, this period has been reduced to four months.
Domestic violence: increase in immediate appearances
Domestic violence is also among the priorities of the prosecution, confirms Eric Vaillant. Since last year, a magistrate from her team has been specifically dedicated to intra-family violence (of which mainly women are victims). She is assisted by a lawyer – another position for a lawyer specializing in these issues has also been created at headquarters. This particular attention is reflected in the figures, underlines the prosecutor Eric Vaillant: “In 2018, domestic violence represented 8% of cases tried in immediate appearance, today we are at 13 or 14%”.
Another priority of the Grenoble prosecutor’s office: the fight against drug trafficking. Eric Vaillant had initiated an action plan upon his arrival in 2019, with the police, the gendarmerie and customs. The prosecutor believes that the strategy of “harassment” is bearing fruit, testify seizures made in 2021 under the jurisdiction of the Grenoble court, unpublished figures: 1,509 kilos of cannabis, 7.83 kg of cocaine, 6.79 kg of heroin and 785,546 euros in cash. “Luck turns, emphasizes Eric Vaillant: it does not always benefit the thugs but sometimes also, fortunately, the investigators!” And at the start of 2022, luck still seems to smile on them with the recent dismantling of traffic in the Lys Rouge district of Grenoble.
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