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Human Rights Watch blasts France's framework for prosecuting terror suspects |
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Written by Jenny Barchfield, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
In this March 2, 2006 file photo, commandos of the elite GIGN police force evacuate a hostage during an exercise at the Beynes camp outside Paris. A Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday said France's legal framework for prosecuting terror suspects is too broad, resulting in too many arrests based on minimal evidence and too many convictions based on circumstantial evidence. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Francois Mori, File
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PARIS - Human Rights Watch is taking France to task over its legal framework for prosecuting terror suspects.
The U.S.-based group says in a report issued Wednesday that French laws are too broad, resulting in too many arrests and too many convictions based on circumstantial evidence.
The U.S.-based group said France's pre-emptive approach to fighting terror and lack of appropriate safeguards within the criminal justice system has put the country "on the wrong side of human rights law."
The report says the situation is made worse through the sometimes rough interrogation tactics used by France investigators. It also criticizes the use of foreign intelligence and the limited access to legal counsel afforded suspects.
Human Rights Watch says a blanket charge often brought against terror suspects is at the heart of the problem.
It says the charge - criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking - is too sweeping because "no specific terrorist act need be planned, much less executed, to give rise to the offence."
Human Rights Watch called cases brought under the charge "guilty-by-association prosecutions" and complained that people who had any contact with the suspects - including family members, neighbours and even mere acquaintances - are sometimes detained.
"It allows for too much flexibility in the interpretation," the report's author, Judith Sunderland, told The Associated Press.
"So you have a history in France of using this charge to arrest large numbers of people on the basis of very little evidence they have anything to do with a terrorist plot. "
The group recommended that France require proof that suspects intend to participate in a terror plot and allow for the presence of a lawyer from the beginning of detentions.
French officials were quick to defend their system.
"All our laws on counterterrorism were taken in response to a threat," government spokesman Luc Chatel said Wednesday.
"French justice is exemplary and its counterterrorism laws are regarded as models by other countries around the world," Justice Ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier told The Associated Press.
The 84-page report said France's Justice Ministry was unable to provide statistics on how many people had faced the blanket charge, but cited a Europol study saying France arrested 130 suspected Islamist terrorists in the first 10 months of 2005. Only 30 were ordered to be held in pretrial custody, the Europol report said.
In the 1980s, France was hit by a string of terror attacks on trains, subways and department stores.
In 1995, a blast by Algerian Islamic militants in Paris' Saint-Michel train station killed eight people and injured 150. There have been no attacks since, despite calls by an Algeria-based al-Qaida affiliate to target France.
Sunderland, meanwhile, criticized the French practice of holding suspects for up to six days with little legal counsel.
And her report said there were "credible allegations of physical abuse of terrorism suspects in French police custody."
It citing testimony from those detained that sleep deprivation, disorientation, constant repetitive questioning and psychological pressure were common.
In addition, Sunderland said statements provided by third countries, often with poor human rights records, are used in the French proceedings.
"France has an obligation under international law to ensure that any evidence obtained under torture is never used in any part of legal proceedings in France," she said.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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