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Hoipolloi Cassidy, "Paris, Texas"Hoipolloi Cassidy writes: "Paris, Texas" In France all courts are kangaroo, at least potentially. As a rule the system works as well as any other: you're presumed to be guilty until proven innocent, but there are levels of presumption and therefore levels of proof throughout the whole process, from Jean-Pierre who witnesses and interferes to the gendarme who determines and passes you on to inspector Maigret, concerned to get the whole picture, to the investigating magistrate, the courts, the judge, the jury. As a rule there's a some kind of checks and balances, and as usual in France they're more a question of connections and individualism than a strict enforcement of rules. But the system goes wrong when these levels are by-passed: when legal professionals work against the community, not within it; when the inner circles and the political cliques take over; when ruling-class paranoia takes control. And the system's gone wrong in the suburbs of Paris.Here is a trial, reported by the French daily Libération. November 3rd, two tow-trucks coming to cart away burnt cars are pelted with rocks by masked young men. Later, two of the drivers identify Mamadou B., age 21, a student in Management, no police record. Description: "tall black man wearing a blue tee-shirt." No line-up. The other two drivers can't identify him. |
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