ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the preventive detention laws in a civil law country that has a long history of fighting terrorism with draconian laws. The French system of preventive detention in terrorism cases is an enhanced version of the regime of preventive detention used in general criminal cases. In terrorism cases, extensions of detention may only be authorized by an independent judicial authority, called a juge des libertes et de la detention. Despite the presumption of innocence in French law, in exceptional cases, for the necessity of the investigation or for reasons of security, a suspect may be placed in detention provisoire, provided a judge is satisfied that lesser measures would not suffice. Although the Leger Commission believed that the procureur's role was key, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had great misgivings about the judicial element of the procureur's role.