Nice-Première has therefore asked Olivier Tafanelli, a Doctor of Law and lawyer at the Nice Bar, to explain the most frequently heard legal terms. Today, in the first part of this column, Olivier Tafanelli discusses the terms “Garde à vue” and “mis en examen.”
Garde-à-vue
Custody or “garde-à-vue” involves detaining a person suspected of committing an offense in the premises of a police station or gendarmerie for the purposes of an investigation, at the initiative of a judicial police officer.
The normal duration of custody is a maximum of 24 hours.
An extension of 24 hours may be authorized by the Public Prosecutor or one of his deputies.
When the investigation concerns particularly serious offenses (acts of terrorism, in particular), the maximum duration of custody can reach 144 hours.
Custody primarily allows the police to interrogate the person while having them at their disposal and without them escaping control.
It constitutes a sensitive phase of the investigation because the person in custody is presumed innocent and must for this reason benefit from various guarantees while remaining at the disposal and in the premises of the police, in a more or less tense context depending on the severity of the facts.
Mise-en-examen
A fundamental stage of the investigation, the “mise-en-examen” is an act by the investigating judge by which they will conduct their investigation against an individual suspected of being the perpetrator of the offense.
The person is then summoned before the investigating judge. They attend the summons assisted by a lawyer. They can then choose to remain silent, answer the judge’s questions, or make spontaneous declarations. At the end of the meeting, and depending on the dossier’s data, the investigating judge will inform the person whether they decide to formally charge them or not.
The person under investigation benefits from certain rights, including the right to a lawyer. However, the “mise-en-examen” also allows the judge to place the individual in temporary detention.
The “mis-en-examen” and their lawyer have access to the dossier and can make requests for actions, namely, ask the investigating judge to carry out certain measures during the investigation (a medical or psychiatric examination, for example).
At the end of the investigation, the investigative judge decides to discontinue the proceedings concerning the person under investigation (dismissal order, particularly in case of insufficient evidence), or to refer them to a court of law (Police Court, Criminal Court, or Assize Court).
