Severe sentences after looting in Nantes: lawyers denounce a "scandal"
Three young men tried in immediate appearance proceedings in Nantes received four to six months' prison with suspension for theft related to demonstrations that weekend.
Immediate appearance proceedings in Nantes: contested sentences after the looting
Four to six months' prison with suspension: this is the sanction handed down on Monday 19 October in Nantes against three young men tried in immediate appearance proceedings for theft and attempted aggravated theft, according to ouest-france.fr.
The facts date back to the mobilisation weekend in support of secondary school pupils and against the rising cost of living, during which around thirty shops were damaged and looted in the city. One of the three defendants had taken clothes left on the pavement outside Foot Locker. The other two were arrested inside a Foot Locker and a Fnac, suspected of acting opportunistically without having yet committed any theft.
The prosecutor of the Republic of Nantes, Antoine Leroy, himself acknowledged that in ordinary times, a theft at Fnac would not justify immediate appearance proceedings. Lawyers reacted strongly to these prosecutions and the sentences handed down, crying "scandal" and questioning the weight of the political and social context in the decisions rendered.
The question raised is that of the influence of external pressure on judicial assessment: did street mobilisation lead justice to strike more severely than it would have in another context? The defendants' lawyers believe so, and denounce a criminal response disproportionate to the charges laid against them.
Source: Google News LU FR