The French judicial fiasco

Liberation devotes its front page to Tunisian migrants landed in Italy in recent days and detained in France. Dozens of the migrants, arrested by French police after crossing the French-Italian border, were freed this weekend after appearing before the “liberties and detention” judge (juge des libertés et de la détention). In Marseille in particular, 35 have been released while the prefecture is requesting permission to prolong their detention in order to return them to Italy or Tunisia. The court ordered their release due to the procedural errors made by the police during the mass arrests. “The swelling of muscles ends up in a judicial rout”, comments Libération, questioning the “meaning of this debacle” which contradicts the thundering declarations of the French authorities. The newspaper quoted the analysis of one of the French lawyers for the Tunisians: “This may be a purely political move.They show their muscles to please public opinion, and make some arrests for the media, even if they lead nowhere.”