the prefect sentenced for the dismantling of a migrant camp
The prefect of Pas-de-Calais was condemned for having freed himself from judicial authority during the dismantling of a migrant camp in Calais in 2020. This decision calls into question the legal framework of many expulsions, according to those concerned. .
The prefecture, which has fifteen days to contest this judgment of the Douai Court of Appeal (North), did not wish to react to the decision. In its judgment of March 24, the court condemned the prefect for “assault”, accuses him of having taken the initiative of the eviction, and of having temporarily deprived of freedom the occupants of the site, without an adequate legal framework. .
The applicants, 11 exiles and eight associations for the defense of migrants, had appointed the prefect in December 2020. They asked that the evacuation carried out on September 29, 2020 in the so-called Virval area, where more than 800 candidates were camped, be deemed “illegal”. on the way to Great Britain.
This decision undermines the recurrent use by the State to carry out evictions from migrant camps on the northern coast of the legal framework of “flagrancy” – applicable when an offense has been observed for less than 48 hours -, according to plaintiffs’ attorney, Eve Thieffry.
“The judge confirms that what the associations have been saying for years: that the prefect has no personal power to evacuate people on the coast and to move them under duress”, she commented. That “prohibits the trial used by the prefecture”.
The prefect assured to have acted on the decision of the prosecutor, the day after the opening of an investigation in “flagrance” on the presence of 450 tents. The court considers on the contrary that he acted on his own initiative, relying on a tweet from the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who said his “support for Prefecture 62” for the operation.
The prefectural communiqué also stated that the tents had been erected since “Several weeks”while the importance of the means implemented – including 30 buses – confirmed an upstream organization. “These elements contradict the hypothesis of the discovery of the offense the day before” of the evacuation, underlines the Court.
Or, “the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais did not require any authorization from the administrative judge in order to proceed with the evacuation” as required for an operation outside the framework of flagrance. In addition, according to the judgment of the Douai Court of Appeal, the prefecture exceeded its prerogatives by temporarily depriving the freedom of migrants escorted to buses, under pressure from the police.