05.12.2014 Prosecutor of Paris: criminal court not competent to judge Manuel Valls

Libération (2014) reports on a recent decision of the Paris prosecutor. The investigation covers statements by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in which he claimed that Rroma had the inclination to stay in Romania or to return there, and they had a very different lifestyle than the French, which was inevitably in confrontation with the French one. The Paris prosecutor’s office now judged on December the second that the criminal court was not competent to judge the statements made by Manuel Valls. The criminal chamber will pronounce its verdict in this regard on December the 19th. However, the plaintiff against Valls, the organisation “La Voix des Roms”, wants that his statements are not judged independently of his function as the then Interior Minister, but are recognised as demagoguery: “For the lawyer of Manuel Valls, Mr. Georges Holleaux, the statements of his client are adjacent to “his ministerial competence”. In his view, the facts thus reverse the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only institution empowered to judge members of the government, for deeds which they have committed in the function of their office. Moreover, he pointed out that that Mrap (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples) had filed a lawsuit against Manuel Valls at the the Court of Justice of the Republic in September 2013, which was dropped it without further consequences.” Manuel Valls is not an isolated case with his racist remarks against the Rroma. In recent years, numerous French mayors and politicians have gained public attention with racist remarks about Rroma. Some were sentenced to mild fines, others were completely acquitted, referring to the freedom of expression. In the French public, Rroma are equated with 15,000 to 20,000 Rroma who live in illegal settlements. The 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma who are integrated in France since generations, are continuously ignored. The Rroma are also repeatedly exploited by various parties for political purposes and blamed for social ills that have their origins in society as a whole, and not in a single minority. Unfortunately, this scapegoat policy finds approval among a shocking number of people (compare L’Yonne Républicaine 2014).