The National Conference of Prosecutors, of which Nicolas Septe sits on the board of directors, raises the alarm about the possible consequences of such a reform, while tensions between the Ministry of the Interior and police officials intensify.
The National Conference of Prosecutors (CNPR) reacts in turn to what it describes“the announcement of the departure of the Zonal Director of the Southern Judicial Police”a polite way of referring to Eric Arella’s firing, which caused a stir.
Among the eighteen signatories of the communiqué, Nicolas Septe, prosecutor of Ajaccio, while Corsica is part of the southern area, the largest in France.
The CNPR sees in this decision of the Directorate General of the National Police one of the symptoms of the tensions aroused by the reform carried out by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, and clearly states, in this text, “his concerns for the future of the judiciary”.
“Following the announcement of the departure of the Area Director of the Southern Judicial Police, he cannot fail to express once again his greatest concern for the outlines and consequences of the planned reform.
She is concerned that the announcement of this departure could undermine the serenity that should preside over discussions on a large-scale reform, which entails serious institutional challenges.
Eric Arella’s dismissal follows a spectacular show of anger at the Bishop’s Palace on Thursday 6 October. Nearly 200 PJ officers from Marseille, but also of Montpellier, Toulon, Nice, Nîmes or even Avignon, awarded Frédéric Veaux with a special honor hedge. The Director General of the National Police passed through the premises of the Marseille police station surrounded by police officers, arms crossed and in silence.
The aim is to express their hostility to the controversial reform of the Ministry of the Interior which plans to place all police services – intelligence, public security, border police (PAF) and judicial police (PJ) – under the same departmental director.
In Paris, the demonstration, the video of which looped on social networks, was seen with a very bad eye. And the first sanction did not take long to fall. The next day, Friday 7 October, Eric Arella, director of the judicial police of Marseille, was fired from his post. A decision that Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, briefly legitimized, in an interview with Le Parisien: “The CEO has the choice of his collaborators. The bond of trust is broken” .
This decision did not calm the climate. On the same day, many police officers gathered in front of the Episcopal Palace to greet the departure of the senior official, who drove out of the police station, amid applause.
At the same time, the PJ laid down his arms, on the ground, in front of a coat of arms of the Interregional Directorate of the Judicial Police of Marseille.
all over the country, from Point-à-Pitre to Quimper via Nanterre, Bayonne or Reims, even the police stations have shown their dissatisfaction.
