A couple employed by the Ministry of the Interior was killed during the night of Monday, June 13 to Tuesday, June 14 in Magnanville (Yvelines). The murderer claimed allegiance to the Islamic State organization, which in turn claimed responsibility for the double murder through its communication channel.
The murderer, Lassana Abballa, was shot dead by RAID police officers during the night, after he had barricaded himself in the victims’ home and negotiations had failed. He was already known to authorities, registered, and convicted in 2013 for “association with criminals to prepare terrorist acts.”
This gave Eric Ciotti the opportunity to present himself at the National Assembly as the champion of populists and bring back to the table a proposal that has been discussed several times in recent months: the detention of suspected jihadists. But would such a measure be applicable?
“What we need, and what I have been calling for—I have submitted multiple amendments since 2012—is to have detention centers, very clearly, like those for psychiatric patients,” he stated.
According to him, about “a thousand individuals” could be affected by his proposal: “These people today, there must be a precautionary principle, we must place them in a detention situation. They can no longer be free, because they constitute a threat.”
The government referred this issue to the Council of State after the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis in November 2015. “Can the law authorize the preventative deprivation of liberty for these individuals and their detention in centers designed for this purpose?” the government asked.
This is precisely the scenario Eric Ciotti is considering.
The Council of State’s response is categorical: according to the French Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, “it is not possible to authorize by law, outside of any criminal procedure, the detention, in centers designed for this purpose, of radicalized individuals.”
The measure is therefore inapplicable, and Eric Ciotti knows it. So why wave the red flag?
Do the ministerial seats of 2017 have such an intoxicating allure?
