The Minister of Justice unveiled his plan to fight big drug traffickers through the creation of a new public prosecutor’s office and the improvement of the status of pentiti.
An “ambitious action plan to strengthen the fight against organized crime”. The Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti unveiled a plan to fight against big drug traffickers in an interview with the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche. The Minister of Justice wants to create a status of “repentant”. “Legislation in this area already exists but it is far too restrictive and therefore not very effective. It has only been applied around twenty times since 2004,” he said. He wishes to draw inspiration from the Italian model, which “allowed great victories”.
This new status will be granted by a judge and may concern people involved in misdemeanors or crimes “provided they have collaborated with justice by having made sincere, complete and decisive statements to dismantle criminal networks”. Thus, the penalty incurred by the repentant “will be reduced”. Their protection will also be improved, adds Eric Dupond Moretti: “by offering them the possibility of an official and definitive change of civil status”. But this status may also “be revoked at any time if the declarations prove to be inaccurate or incomplete”. Measures which will be financed by confiscation of criminal assets.
The government will also create a national prosecutor’s office dedicated to the fight against organized crime. The objective is to settle drug cases by a specialized court, rather than an ordinary one. The goal is to avoid the pressure and threats to which citizen jurors are sometimes subjected when judging these assassinations. Finally, Eric Dupond Moretti is considering the creation of “a new offense of criminal association in matters of organized crime, punishable by 20 years’ imprisonment”.
