I am told that in France and other civil law countries your accusers may not be required to come and testify against you. You can be held without sleep for 48 hours and interrogated without charges being pressed - and investigative judge puts you "in question".. Confessions in the last few hours are frequent.
In the US the Patriot Act is vilified.
Not in France. What do you think. This is a French reaction to Guantanamo which is in next weeks Economist.
"The French criminal-justice system makes a crackdown easy. Terrorist suspects can be held for 96 hours without charge. Under a 1996 law, they can be detained by a judge for “association with wrongdoers involved in a terrorist enterprise�: this covers not just conspirators, but those in their circle. Since January 2004, several members of the Benchellali family have been held on such charges, linked to plans for a chemical bomb. All four French suspects released from Guantánamo Bay, one of them a Benchellali, were detained on their return home. “We have a particularly repressive criminal-justice regime,� deplores one of their lawyers. As many as 35% of prisoners in France are in “provisional detention� awaiting trial, a process that can take years.
In other countries, this might be a subject for liberal hand-wringing. But the detention of the Guantánamo Bay four provoked little comment in France. Most people in France see it as a price to pay to protect liberal society. “We must never find ourselves in a position of powerlessness,� insists Mr de Villepin. “Democratic governments must ensure order, as this is the guarantee of our freedoms.� Far from prompting debate on the balance between civil liberties and security, Mr de Villepin's approach has been applauded—and his popularity has risen, encouraging those who see him as the next prime minister.
I hear all those who write and say that Amercia wants to be an Empire. Just how do you do this when you are not relatively repressive at home?
(I know that this question is so broad that there are lots of ways to take shots. Good hunting.)
In the US the Patriot Act is vilified.
Not in France. What do you think. This is a French reaction to Guantanamo which is in next weeks Economist.
"The French criminal-justice system makes a crackdown easy. Terrorist suspects can be held for 96 hours without charge. Under a 1996 law, they can be detained by a judge for “association with wrongdoers involved in a terrorist enterprise�: this covers not just conspirators, but those in their circle. Since January 2004, several members of the Benchellali family have been held on such charges, linked to plans for a chemical bomb. All four French suspects released from Guantánamo Bay, one of them a Benchellali, were detained on their return home. “We have a particularly repressive criminal-justice regime,� deplores one of their lawyers. As many as 35% of prisoners in France are in “provisional detention� awaiting trial, a process that can take years.
In other countries, this might be a subject for liberal hand-wringing. But the detention of the Guantánamo Bay four provoked little comment in France. Most people in France see it as a price to pay to protect liberal society. “We must never find ourselves in a position of powerlessness,� insists Mr de Villepin. “Democratic governments must ensure order, as this is the guarantee of our freedoms.� Far from prompting debate on the balance between civil liberties and security, Mr de Villepin's approach has been applauded—and his popularity has risen, encouraging those who see him as the next prime minister.
I hear all those who write and say that Amercia wants to be an Empire. Just how do you do this when you are not relatively repressive at home?
(I know that this question is so broad that there are lots of ways to take shots. Good hunting.)