In a Le Monde op-ed, lawyers Romain Boulet and Karine Bourdié welcome Nicolas Sarkozy's five-year firm prison sentence, hoping it leads to greater moderation in public expression and law-making. They criticize selective calls to abolish provisional execution, reserved for elites. Every day, hundreds of provisional incarceration decisions are made without stirring emotion.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy's conviction to a five-year firm prison sentence has prompted a touching unanimity among political figures and editorialists, who demand the abolition of provisional execution. They argue it clashes with the presumption of innocence, as it bars a supreme court candidate from running or forces an ex-president to incarcerate despite an appeal.
Op-ed authors Romain Boulet and Karine Bourdié mock this turnaround: « Political leaders, especially those who constantly demand harsher penal laws and weakened defense rights, [...] finally align with our concerns. » They note that every day, hundreds of provisional incarceration decisions – through immediate appearances, post-instruction judgments, or freedom judges' orders – are issued without outrage, unlike usual complaints of a 'lax' justice amid rising prison populations.
Yet this indignation appears short-lived and self-serving: « Very quickly, we understood that this outrage and call for legislative rewrite targeted only their candidate or themselves. » The lawyers reject a two-tier criminal procedure code, one for presidential hopefuls and one for 'ordinary citizens.' They remind that « privileges were abolished during a famous night in the summer of 1789, and equality before the law is a fundamental principle of our Republic. » This piece advocates for equal justice, away from populist clichés.