AFP, posted Friday, March 11, 2022 at 7:28 pm.
Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti’s Thursday-Saturday trip to Reunion and Mayotte is being boycotted by many clerks and magistrates who are demanding significant additional resources for their courts.
“You can’t both blame me for not coming and boycott me when I do,” the Keeper of the Seals said on Thursday, an AFP journalist said.
“Though the manifestations of desperation intensify, (Eric Dupont-Moretti) stubbornly ignores the loss of meaning and suffering in the work of magistrates and registry staff (…), minimizing the understaffing and gloating about the results. obtained by twisting the numbers,” writes the Magistracy Syndicate (SM, left) in justification of its call for a boycott.
In these two territories, professionals denounce working conditions and demand more resources. They join a forum posted in November by several thousand judges and clerks, highlighting their discomfort and suffering at work.
At the public prosecutor’s office in Saint-Pierre, Reunion, out of 15,648 cases received in 2021, only 9,644 cases were completed, the prosecution said at a press conference in early March.
This jurisdiction, which covers the south of the island, has 19 justices of the peace, including six prosecutors, who handle an average of 3,500 cases per year, compared to the national average of 2,200. “We would need 12 judges (instead of 6, editor’s note). ) to achieve the national ratio and 38 for the European ratio,” prosecutor Caroline Kalbo then emphasized.
The same goes for the jurisdiction of Saint-Denis: 7,176 new cases in 2021, out of 2,210 judgments rendered.
And crime rates are on the rise: according to the prefecture, there were 6,019 thefts in 2021 compared to 5,282 in 2020, and 5,395 assaults compared to 4,792 in 2020.
For his part, the Keeper of the Seals was able to see that what was being done in Réunion in terms of “local justice” was an “example” according to those around him.
For the UNSA judicial services union, the visit is a “self-promotion operation at the expense of suffering employees.”
– “Professional overload” –
The reception given to Eric Dupont-Moretti was less chilly at Domainejoud prison, where he was applauded by inmates who “no doubt remember that he was a lawyer,” commented a warden who asked to remain anonymous.
In Mayotte, where a ministerial visit began late in the afternoon on Friday, the situation became even more tense as a young clerk assigned to the territory since January tried to commit suicide on March 4, explaining his act in a letter as “altruistic suicide” meant to highlight the understaffing public services Mahoran.
For example, he describes the daily housing difficulties that newcomers have to face, and denounces more generally the “lack of support for housing, movement” of metropolitan officials who agree to come.
Mamuzu court officials also decided to boycott the minister’s visit. He will simply be given a series of 20 requests, mostly financial (translator overtime, upgrades, housing assistance, etc.) but also structural (temporary accommodation upon arrival, assistance with time-consuming administrative procedures, etc.)
In addition, according to the union Horizon Justice, the lack of security on this island breeds “over-vigilance”, which leads to serial burnouts. According to the union, less than 30 court employees have been attacked in less than two years.
Two magistrates are currently on sick leave due to “overwork”, with the Justice Union Horizon estimating this as “35% absenteeism among clerks”.
The minister announced the forthcoming establishment of a Mamoudzu Court City to replace the current courthouse, which is too cramped. No timetable has been proposed because “there is no land,” the minister admitted.