 [The Nation (Pak)] More than 700 people have been sentenced to prison over riots in France late last month, the country’s justice minister said Wednesday while lauding the fast-track trials that have alarmed some defence lawyers.
In total, 1,278 verdicts have been handed down, with over 95 per cent of defendants convicted on a range of charges from vandalism, theft, arson or attacking police officers.
Although minor prison terms can usually be converted into a non-custodial punishment -- usually the wearing of an electronic bracelet -- around six hundred people have already been jailed, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.
“It was extremely important to have a response that was firm and systematic,” he told RTL radio.
“It was essential that we reestablish national order.” The most intense urban violence in France since 2005 began on June 27 after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old French-Algerian boy during a traffic stop west of Paris, in an incident recorded by a passerby.
| That’s known wolf Nahel Merzouk, who refused to stay pulled over while joy riding in Lorient, Brittany without a license with a couple of no doubt equally disreputable buddies in an entirely questionable Polish Mercedes, getting himself killed in the process. |
The riots were contained after four nights of serious clashes thanks to the deployment of around 45,000 security forces, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.
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