GOVERNMENT PLANS NEW ANTI-TERRORIST LEGISLATION
On 25 October, the Government adopted a bill aiming to extend the list of offenses that can qualify as "acts of terrorism" under a 1986 law against terrorism and offenses against state security. Under the bill, people helping illegal immigrants can be tried as terrorists.
The 1986 anti-terrorist law
A law introduced in 1986 under the then interior minister, Charles Pasqua, established a special procedure and massively increased punishment for a number of offenses such as theft and possession of explosives and deliberate attacks against peoples' lives, whenever they are committed for the purpose of seriously disturbing public order by intimidation or terror. Under the 1986 law suspects can be held in police custody for 4 days (instead of two) without being presented to a judge or informed about the charges. All terrorism related procedures are centralised in Paris and tried by a special court made of magistrates only (the normal French criminal procedure provides for the participation of juries). The law did not establish new criminal offenses but merely new powers and rules of procedure.
The new French penal code introduced in 1994 provided for automatically and massively increased punishment of offences tried under the 1986 law and abolished suspects' right to receive the visit of a lawyer during police custody. Finally, in 1995, the statute of limitation for terrorism related offences was extended.
The Toubon bill: new terrorist offences
Under the new bill presented by Justice Minister Toubon, the following offences are added to the list of crimes to which the special rules of the 1986 anti-terrorism law can apply: participation in a combat group, re-constitution of a banned organisation, hiding of criminals, the possession of certain types of fire-arms, and, last but not least, assistance to an illegal alien.
The bill further introduces a new criminal offence - the "association of terrorist wrong-doers" and increased sentences for assaults against police and Customs officers. Finally, police shall be allowed to search houses at night-time whenever terrorism-related offences are concerned. Hitherto, searches were prohibited by law between 9 PM and 6 AM.
Linking terrorism with immigration
Justice Minister Toubon says the bill aims at providing security forces with an "efficient legal arsenal" for the fight against terrorism, but it is not only civil liberties organisations who have voiced concern that the proposed changes, while being of little practical use in deterring terrorists, further undermine fundamental rights and freedoms. The general secretary of Syndicat de la Magistrature (SM), a union of magistrates (judges and public prosecutors), called the bill a "publicity stunt" aiming at legitimising random police raids against innocent people - "friends, cousins, just about anybody". Indeed, incriminations such as involvement in an "association of wrong-doers in relation with terrorist undertakings" are catch-all clauses that are likely to widen the circle of "suspects".
The country's largest police union, FASP, is among the signing organisations of a joint statement warning against establishing an apparent link between terrorists and immigrants: "There is a serious risk of marginalisation of a sector of the population already strongly affected by the economic crisis. This could result in confrontations benefiting only the extremists of all sides".
Danièle Lochak, a Paris based professor of law and president of GISTI, a French NGO that provides legal advice to immigrants and asylum seekers, said: "What strikes me is the incrimination of assistance to foreigners lacking stay permits. I do not really understand. As far as I know, until now all terrorist attacks are imputed to French citizens or persons on a perfectly legal stay here". Ms Lochak also criticized the increased sentences for assaults against representatives of public order provided for in the anti-terrorism bill: "Honestly, I have never heard anybody say that mounting violence against policemen has anything to do with terrorism. This is a law text aiming only at re-assuring police officers and demonstrating that the government trusts them. Considering this, the fact that this text will remain in the penal code, gives cause for serious concern". In an editorial in the Paris daily, Libération, Guillaume Malaurie sums it up: "Step by step, a new equation is being imposed: for more security, let us sacrifice our liberties".
Sources: Libération, 26.10.95; Humanité, 23.10.95, 26.10.95; Le Monde, 27.10.95.