It is new. Magistrates, lawyers and clerks gather in front of the courts on Wednesday December 15 to demand means “worthy” for justice, three weeks after a forum denouncing the suffering at work and a loss of meaning. On the occasion of this day of “general mobilization for justice”, the organizers call for massive dismissals of hearings. They also invite rallies in front of the courts. In Paris, a demonstration is scheduled for noon in front of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Franceinfo returns to the reasons for the anger.
Suicide at the origin of the mobilization
The magistrates’ tribune, published on November 23 in The world, was written by nine young magistrates after the suicide, at the end of August, of one of their colleagues, Charlotte, aged 29. This young judge officiated in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais for “complete the workforce” death “overdue jurisdictions”, write the authors. “On several occasions in the year before her death, Charlotte alerted her colleagues to the suffering she was causing her job. Like many, she worked almost all of her weekends and vacations, but this was not enough. “
Challenging working conditions and “injunctions to always go faster and to make money” pushed her, according to her colleagues, to commit this desperate gesture. And according to the signatory magistrates, usually discreet in the public debate, “Charlotte is not an isolated case”. “It was following this suicide that we collectively wondered about this death and the working conditions that we all experienced”, comments on franceinfo Manon Lefebvre, deputy prosecutor on the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Douai, signatory of the platform.
A persistent lack of resources in the judicial services
Despite an increase in the budget of the French justice system, which has experienced two successive increases of 8% over the past two years, the problem of the lack of means, very old, is far from being resolved. This, to the detriment of professionals and litigants. The signatories of the forum cite in particular overcrowded hearings, sick leaves which are increasing among the judicial staff, hearings closed without follow-up or the obligation to deal with divorce cases. “in fifteen minutes” without being able to give the floor to the parties.
This situation puts them in front of a “untenable dilemma: to judge quickly, but badly, or to judge well, but within unacceptable deadlines”. Claire Dujardin, lawyer in Toulouse and president of the Union of lawyers of France, recalls on franceinfo that the budget of the French justice is “in 14th place out of 27 countries at European level”. “The number of magistrates and clerks should be doubled to reach the level corresponding to other European countries.” As for the contractors recruited, the lawyer explains that they do not “are not trained to resume a hearing or (…) write judgments. They cannot compensate for the current difficulties of lack of staff at the level of magistrates and clerks”.
A word that is released on “despair” in the profession
If the problem is old, the liberation of speech around this suffering is new. In a profession accustomed to discretion, the number of signatories to the forum is a worrying indicator. Signed initially by more than 3000 magistrates, that is to say a third of the professional body, it posted Monday more than 7,550 signatories, including 5,476 magistrates, 1,583 civil servants and 493 judicial auditors (student magistrates).
“The difference is that today more and more colleagues are talking about it quite freely”, notes Manon Lefebvre. “It is proof that we are at the end of our tether, we are rather discreet in the judiciary and for us not to be any more, there is a real problem”, considers the deputy prosecutor.
This suffering is now exposed on social networks with the keyword #JusticeMalad. In a rare position taken by the highest court of the judiciary, the magistrates of the Court of Cassation in turn adopted a motion on Monday. The “Court of Cassation cannot remain silent at a time when despair affects those who try, sometimes at the cost of sacrifices or tragedies, to do a work of justice”, they write. Besides the “chronic shortage of human and material resources”, the text points to “multiple reforms, designed and carried out with urgency and lack of preparation”.
A response from the Minister deemed unsatisfactory
The reception of this movement by the Minister of Justice was not judged to be up to the stakes. Two days before this day of mobilization, Eric Dupond-Moretti defended his record at a press conference, once again extolling the budget “historical” for justice under this mandate. In 2022, it will be 8.9 billion euros compared to 6.8 billion euros in 2017, i.e. “an increase of more than 30% over this five-year term”.
The minister notably announced the increase in the number of court auditors and the creation of psychological cells for magistrates and clerks. Assuring to have “heard and taken into account” the call to unite before the courts, Eric Dupond-Moretti however denounced the “ulterior motives of some, just like the temptations of instrumentalization in a pre-electoral context”.
“We attended a communication operation to respond to the massive despair and suffering of the magistrates”, castigated on franceinfo Ludovic Friat, general secretary of the Union Syndicale des Magistrats (USM). The creation of psychological cells is not an idea to reject, according to the USM, but it is not enough. “What we want above all are magistrates, clerks, repair justice by taking a long-term plan over several years and stop the reforms that are piling up”, he warned.
Estates General of Justice too late
This mobilization collides with the States General of Justice launched by the government on October 18. The Independent Commission chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé is expected to submit reform proposals by February 2022. “The work continues in [ce] framework”, assured Eric Dupond-Moretti.
For the organizers of the mobilization, “the problem of means is completely eliminated” of these States General, which moreover arrive too late. Lawyer Claire Dujardin deplores on franceinfo that “this situation” be discovered “after five years of office where we should have started to put in place the means so that we do not arrive at this level of degradation of the public service of justice”.
“The organization of the Estates General of Justice is only an illusion intended to feign the establishment of ersatz solutions to problems denounced by all judicial actors”, hammer lawyers in an article published on franceinfo. These States General of a few months cannot settle the “pauperization of French justice”, consequence, according to the magistrates of the Court of Cassation “successive public policies which have never provided it with the necessary staff and budget”.