NIMES: IMMEDIATE TRIAL, FAST JUSTICE, BETTER JUSTICE ? | TF1 | Reportages

A stabbing for an insult, a beating for a blast on a horn… More than 800 acts of gratuitous violence are reported every day in France. In 2017, the figures hit record highs. To judge the more serious cases, magistrates dispose of an emergency procedure: immediate trial. In Nimes their number increased by 35% between 2016 and 2017. It means that perpetrators can be judged immediately upon custody, sometimes on the very same day. Courts where accused and victims come face to face in the still-intense emotion of the events. Exceptionally, we were allowed to set up our cameras in the Nimes Courts and follow these trials.

A beating for a blast on a horn… The victim, a young man of 26, was beaten with an iron bar. He’s a mechanic and is not sure he will recover the use of one of his hands. The judge, Christine Ruellan, called the act “The Clockwork Orange” case. The victim may only still be alive thanks to the courageous intervention of a firefighter. “I saw the hatred in their eyes. I’ve never seen such an outburst of violence. If I had not intervened, they would have ended up killing this poor young man,” is his testimony in the witness box. In the court, Lorraine Dorlhac, the Public Prosecutor listened carefully to all parties. During the trial, where she represents the public interest, she remarks that “these events could happen to any one of us because in our society honest people have to keep a low profile.” During her summing up, she will demand the maximum sentence for the two aggressors.

In France, a woman dies every 3 days of violence from her partner. There are perhaps 250,000 victims of domestic violence. Less than 15% dare report it. Jeanne is one of those. Her husband, till then with no record, kept her shut up, humiliated and beat her for an entire night. The young woman¾and this is rare¾had the courage to confront him before the judges. Will she resist her husband’s apologies, a man who, according to his lawyers, “Loves her.”? Loves her wrongly, but loves her despite that”?

Finally, we follow the court process of a young offender from his custody to his sentence. In a service station he stabbed a former colleague in order, he claims, “To avenge himself for an insult”. During the examination, the gendarmes discover that the victim may not actually be one…

How will Public Prosecutor Lorraine Dorlhac and Judge Christine Ruellan apply the law in such a complex case?

In Nimes, this high level of petty crime and the subsequent sentencing have a direct impact on the level of the prison population. In the penitentiary it’s at +230%. “With more than 100 mattresses on the floor,” complains Florence Sylvestre, the sentencing judge. With him, we met Lea, 26, a drug addict, and sentenced a few months ago at an immediate trial for aggravated robbery. To achieve progressive rehabilitation, she has asked Florence Sylvestre to grant her a partial release. Will the judge be open to the young woman’s plea?

With the judges, prosecutors, police and victims, take a plunge into the legal arena of Nimes.