“For the first time, we will classify, and I hope that the prosecutors will do so today, these people who carried out these factious attacks against the Republic as organized crime. » With this firm declaration, the Minister of Justice announced a clear toughening of the criminal response. However, it is up to each magistrate to individually analyze the documents in a file to verify that the legal criteria are met before deciding to proceed under this or that qualification.
The qualification of “organized crime” would open up new means of investigation: extension of police custody up to 72 hours, geolocation, exploitation of mobile phones. And this, while common law “already offers many effective investigative tools, such as wiretapping and geolocation,” recalls Manon Lefevre, national secretary of the Magistrates’ Union. “It is a qualification usually reserved for organized crime, drug trafficking, pimping or terrorism […] a simple theft from a store cannot make you fall into the organized gang. »
What is the organized gang?
In French criminal law, the exemption regime for organized crime is strictly regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure, in particular by its article 706-73, explains Antoine Baduel, doctoral student in criminal procedure at Aix-Marseille University. To retain the circumstance of “organized gang”, several criteria must be met: the participation of at least “two or three” individuals, premeditation, internal structuring including a leader, a deputy leader and an idea of continuity and permanence, “like a business”, specifies the lawyer. Legal reasoning requires characterizing these elements and, if they are present, applying the exceptional regime. However, specialists denounce here an inverted reasoning on the part of the Minister of Justice. “By doing this, he exactly fulfills the definition of what the Court of Cassation calls a misuse of procedure,” explains Antoine Baduel. A point confirmed by Hugo Partouche, member of the national office of the Union of Lawyers of France. The Minister of Justice thus places the classification of organized crime on these files, offering the police and the justice system more extensive means of investigation and coercive measures than those of common law.
An exceptional arsenal in the face of common law already equipped
Concretely, while people arrested in the act of theft or breakage are placed in police custody, then tried in immediate appearance within 48 hours, suspects arrested as an organized gang can remain in police custody for up to 96 hours. Prosecutions for organized crime also make it possible to deploy special investigation techniques (TSE), reinforced by the drug trafficking law of June 13, 2025.
Paradoxically, this displayed severity could weaken prosecutions, explains the doctoral student. “If a court finds a misuse of procedure, this results in the nullity of all acts made possible only thanks to this exceptional regime. » Police custody would thus remain valid for its first 48 hours, but extension beyond that, as well as data from geolocations or wiretapping, would be purely and simply canceled.
Appeals initiated
The doctoral student recalls the thoughts of the lawyer and academician François Sureau, according to whom “the unformulated idea of our governments is to make us believe that our great principles are only valid in calm times”, whereas it is precisely in moments of crisis that they must be applied with the most force. “On the enemies of the rule of law who are the thugs, the rule of law must be imposed. But not the other way around,” summarizes the doctoral student.
The public prosecutor's offices of Aix and Marseille have also decided to remain under the common law regime to process cases for immediate appearance. “Although article 39-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the prosecutor implements the penal policy defined by the general instructions of the minister, magistrates retain freedom of appreciation regarding the cases,” specifies the national secretary of the Magistrates’ Union. “The judge is not a civil servant. » The Magistrates’ Union has also initiated appeals before the administrative courts against the legality of these circulars.
