Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, house arrests and accreditation refusals are increasing

As the Paris Olympics approach, the Interior Ministry announced that it had taken 155 administrative control and surveillance measures (Micas) against individuals deemed dangerous. In total, 4,355 people – athletes, coaches or security agents – were excluded from the Olympic Games, likely to present a threat. Many lawyers denounce arbitrary measures.

On June 29, Amin was at home in his studio in the suburbs of Paris when four armed police officers knocked on his door to inform him of his administrative measure of control and surveillance. The 21-year-old student was no longer allowed to leave his town for three months, the duration of the Olympic Games, and had to report to the police station every morning: “It was a real nightmare for me”The Interior Ministry accuses him of making comments advocating terrorism and watching videos of beheadings on the “Rave” app, which broadcasts live videos. But for Amin, he was the victim of identity theft: “I immediately filed a complaint with the police station, but I don’t know if it’s because of my name or my Maghreb origins, but no one wants to believe me.”

The scammer allegedly borrowed two of his profile pictures from social media. Questioned in police custody on April 16th on this matter by the anti-terrorism sub-directorate, Amin was released after eight hours, without any prosecution: “The police officers understood very quickly that it was not me and apologized for the mistake.” His phone and computer were searched for two months by the DGSI before being returned to him. “For me it was a real shock, and I thought I was done with all that, before I received the Micas,” the man tells franceinfo.

The consequences are serious. For three years, the young man has been an intern in a bank. At the same time, he is pursuing a degree at a major Parisian university and has just been admitted to a major business school on a work-study basis, subject to finding an apprenticeship: “When I apply to big investment banks, I can’t go to interviews. It compromises my whole future”. Including his summer plans. Amin had a dream: to leave in August, with friends, to tour Corsica by motorbike. “I have already advanced the money after saving for a year, he says. But this dream suddenly falls apart.” With his lawyer, he filed a request to have his Micas cancelled. The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, at the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise, in Val-d’Oise.

His counsel, Vincent Brenghart, denounces measures that infringe on freedoms: “You have people who have never been convicted, who have been heard in police custody, but who have benefited from a dismissal or a dismissal order. And despite everything, the Ministry of the Interior considers that these facts are characterized. This is very worrying because these are not measures that involve the judiciary. And in addition, it is very difficult to win a case, since there is a presumption of good faith that weighs in favor of the ministry.”.

“We have a policy that we can completely understand regarding the preservation of public order, continues lawyer Lucie Simon, who defends many clients in this situation. But with a disproportionate impact on people’s freedoms, with an extremely wide net.” “Since the state of emergency, Lucie Simon analyses, The legislative arsenal is very broad. There are also home visits which are administrative searches, or refusals of accreditation for the Olympic Games with investigations by the national service of administrative security investigations (SNEAS), which are not even made public.”

Leon had to face this situation “Kafkaesque”: excluded from the Olympic Games without explanation. The young 33-year-old intermittent show business worker had planned everything: the tickets, the apartment rental in Paris, after having responded to a job offer. But 15 days before the ceremony, he learned that he would not be able to come and work at the Grand Palais as stage manager for the taekwondo and fencing events. His employer informed him that he had been refused accreditation: “I explain this because in 2016, I was a photographer and during a demonstration against the Labor Law, I was taken into custody. Finally, I was acquitted, at first instance and on appeal. I have a clean criminal record, but I have to appear on a file and that justifies this refusal of accreditation.”

These are worrying measures, warns Lucie Simon: “We can imagine how quickly the services have to act, with an unattainable zero risk objective. So as soon as someone is on a file, knowing that being on a file means nothing, that can be enough to make them a victim of a liberticidal measure.”.

Leon is going to claim compensation for the weeks of work lost. His employer was forced to replace him. He is also trying to have his name removed from these mysterious files: “What scares me is what comes next. How am I going to work on other events of this type? And above all, I’m afraid of the excesses if an even more authoritarian party comes to power.“, he concludes.