In Châtellerault, lawyers will no longer intervene in the premises of the police station until further notice. Black dresses have been denouncing for several months visual inspection of their bag to access the establishment. To express its disagreement, the Bar of Poitiers lawyers decided on Wednesday January 12 to cease all designation of lawyers for police custody.
A breach of professional secrecy?
Consequently, persons arrested in Châtellerault (adults or minors) can no longer benefit from the assistance of a lawyer. In the motion adopted this Wednesday, the Poitiers bar specifies that this measure will remain in force “until the visual search of lawyers’ bags ceases”.
A strong decision but at the height of the abuse of which the lawyers consider themselves victims. “That does not exist anywhere in France and that is what is incomprehensible” indignantly Nicolas Gillet, president of the Bar Association of Poitiers. According to him, this is a breach of professional secrecy.. “You should know that a lawyer’s bag is the direct extension of his office”, he underlines. However, “the search of a lawyer’s office and therefore of his bag, can legally only be done by virtue of a search with the guarantees which are conferred by law in the event of a search”.
The President seizes the Defender of Rights
According to the Poitiers Bar, these checks are encouraged internally by the departmental police directorate. “I remind you that the protection of professional secrecy is provided for by the Penal Code. It is therefore not by virtue of the memo from the departmental director of public security (DDSP) that the legal provisions can be overridden. ” In order to put an end to these checks, the President of the Bar announces that he has seized the Defender of Rights.
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