The Lede: French Shocked by I.M.F. Chief's 'Perp Walk'

As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France’s leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock, outrage, disbelief and embarrassment throughout France on Sunday.”

Though horrified by those alleged crimes, the French press and political elite on Monday seemed perhaps more scandalized still by the images of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s brusque treatment by the New York police, and his exposure in the American media.

“I found that image to be incredibly brutal, violent and cruel,” the former justice minister Elisabeth Guigou told France-Info radio on Monday, referring to widely published photographs of a beleaguered-looking Mr. Strauss-Kahn, handcuffed and led by several New York police officers. “I am happy that we do not have the same judicial system.”

As justice minister, Ms. Guigou, now a parliamentarian, oversaw the passage of a law prohibiting the publication of photographs of handcuffed criminal suspects.

“I don’t see what the publication of images of this type adds,” she said.

Asked about Ms. Guigou’s remarks, Eva Joly, a well-known French magistrate who once brought charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn for corruption (of which he was later acquitted), agreed that “these are very violent images.” Ms. Joly, who is now a leader of the French Green Party expected to run in next year’s presidential election, added that this sort of media spectacle might be “more violent for a celebrity than for an unknown person,” but noted that the American justice system “doesn’t distinguish between the director of the I.M.F. and any other suspect. It’s the idea of equal rights.” *

Ms. Joly also suggested that the ‘perp walk’ images of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs were a product of a justice system quote unlike the French one, because American prosecutors always needs to think about convincing a jury of a suspect’s guilt. At present, there are no jurors in many French courtrooms, although French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed changes that would make juries more common and jurors do take part in trials for the most serious offenses, including rape.

A French radio interview with Eva Joly, a leading French magistrate and potential presidential candidate.

As Richard Brody observed of Ms. Joly’s comments in a post on The New Yorker’s Web site: “the perp walk seems to have no French counterpart. But Joly’s more substantial remarks, regarding the differences between the two countries’ judicial systems, deserves consideration.”

Mr. Brody pointed out that the documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon’s fly-on-the-wall look at French justice, “Tenth District Court,” from 2004, showed a very different system of justice, “unlike the ritualized theatre of American proceedings.”

The 12 defendants who appear before Judge Mich?le Bernard-Requin and her colleagues for such offenses as drunk driving, marijuana peddling, petty larceny, and arms possession must stand at a podium in the center of court and answer her direct questions. Without a jury to seduce, the defendants wear their usual clothes and speak their mind with a refreshingly contentious frankness

Mr. Brody also points to this trailer for the film, which gives a sample of a very different system in action:

French journalists covering the case in New York were themselves astonished to see Mr. Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs, even in person. “Last night, the chilling image of DSK handcuffed nailed our mouths shut,” wrote Stéphane Jourdain, a French reporter for Agence France-Presse, using Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s initials, his familiar French moniker. “Not one journalist asked him for a reaction when he came out.”

In a column on the origins of the phrase “perp walk,” in 2002, William Safire explained in The New York Times Magazine:

Perp walk burst into print in November 1986; Newsweek reported that Charles Hynes, the New York prosecutor, “refused to parade defendants before cameras in the now-traditional ‘perp walk’ that many prosecutors use to please the TV stations.” The columnist Nat Hentoff, journalism’s foremost defender of civil liberties, wrote that same month in criticism of publicity-seeking prosecutors who “put defendants through what is called in the trade a ‘perp walk’” after alerting camera crews of the parade of supposed malefactors. “Under such circumstances, even Mother Teresa would look extremely suspicious, especially if her hands were cuffed behind her back.”

Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan’s district attorney, informs me that the phrase dates back to the mid-70’s, when he and the TV reporter Gabe Pressman often clashed over the interests of the press and the public versus the rights of the accused. “Gabe said, ‘We need pictures to report your cases,’ and I said, ‘You’re breaking my heart,’” recalls the crusty D.A. “But Rudy Giuliani, when he was a prosecutor, was the master of the perp walk.”

As Mr. Safire explained at the time, even when it does not concern high-profile French politicians, the practice “has come under fire from a minority determined to defend the principle of the presumption of innocence and the rights of those indicted to a trial before an unprejudiced jury.”

The possibility that the parading of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs could compromise his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty struck several French commentators on Monday.

“The heart can only contract before these humiliating and poignant images that they’re giving of him,” Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a leftist senator and former minister, wrote on his blog. “A horrible global lynching! And what if it were all a monstrous injustice?”

While acknowledging that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s alleged crimes are “particularly serious,” Le Monde editorialized in its Monday afternoon edition, “When one of the world’s most powerful men is turned over to press photos, coming out of a police station handcuffed, hands behind his back, he is already being subjected to a sentence which is specific to him.”

“Grave question,” the newspaper continued. “Is it necessary that a man’s fame deprive him of his presumption of innocence in the media? Because if they must assuredly be equal before the justice system, all men are not equal before the press.”

* This post was revised to add more of Ms. Joly’s remarks at the suggestion of readers who suggested that her comments might be misunderstood if not aired fully enough.

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I.M.F. Chief’s Arrest Throws French Politics Into Disarray

PARIS — For months, France has been buzzing with speculation that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the popular chief of the International Monetary Fund, would quit his job in Washington to take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential elections. On Sunday, French politicians and media met news of his arrest in New York for alleged sexual aggression with stunned disbelief and expressions of national humiliation. The incident threw Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s political party, the Socialists, into confusion and set the stage for a new political calculus that could allow the National Front, the far-right party led by its founder’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, to become a more dominant force during the election campaign.

Even as pollsters cautioned against rushing to judgment and as Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said his client “will plead not guilty,” his would-be rivals were quick to declare his political death.

“He’s definitely discredited,” Ms. Le Pen said Sunday on French television. “The case and the charges mark the end of his campaign for the presidency, and will likely prompt the IMF to ask him to leave his post.”

?Bernard Debré, a lawmaker in Mr. Sarkozy’s center-right UMP party, told French television that the arrest was “a humiliation and an affront to the honor of France. Everyone will now say, ‘Look at what the French do.’ " Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s political career, he added, “must be ended — he will be condemned.”

Fran?ois Bayrou, a centrist politician who ”lost to Mr. Sarkozy in the last race, said he was amazed. “If the accusations turn out to be true — and even if they are proved false — this is a degrading thing” for France, he said.

Leaders of the Socialist party pleaded with the public to withhold judgment until more facts emerged about his arrest in connection with the alleged sexual attack of a maid at a Manhattan hotel Saturday afternoon.

Ségolène Royal, a leading member of the party who also lost to Mr. Sarkozy in France’s last presidential election, called the charges “staggering” but said he was innocent until proven guilty. She cautioned against turning the situation “into a political soap opera.” The Socialist party leader, Martine Aubry, said she was “stupefied” by the news and called for an emergency meeting of party leaders for Monday.

The head of France’s Christian Democratic party, Christine Boutin, went further, suggesting that amid the atmosphere of France’s presidential campaign, Mr. Strauss-Kahn may have been set up. ? “I really believe that somebody set a trap for Dominique Strauss-Kahn to fall into,” she told French television. “That he could be taken in like that seems astounding, so he must have been trapped.”

In any event, Mr. Sarkozy may not benefit, political analysts say. Over 60 percent of French voters do not want the president to run again in next year’s race, recent polls show. Francois Hollande, a former chief of the Socialist party, has been steadily rising in opinion polls, in part because his down-to-earth image contrasts with the more flamboyant Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said Stéphàe Rozès, a public opinion expert and president of Cap, a consultancy.

If Mr. Strauss-Kahn is out of the picture, he said, Mr. Hollande has a chance of making it into a presidential run-off and face not Mr. Sarkozy but Ms. Le Pen, which he believes would be a ticket to the presidency. It would also confirm the steady rise in the popularity ratings of Ms. Le Pen 10 years after her father faced off with Jacques Chirac in the 2002 presidential election. And it could move the National Front from the margins of the political arena to its center at a time when far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-European parties are making gains across Europe.

Elaine Sciolino contributed reporting from Paris.

 

French and Italian Leaders Seek Tighter Controls on Migration

The appeal, in a joint letter to the president of the European Commission, represented a remarkable request to change a pact that has become one of the European Union’s hallmark agreements. Under the treaty, which dates from 1985, 25 European Union member nations dismantled border controls for their own citizens and citizens of other countries.

Analysts said it was highly unlikely that the European Union would revise the agreement, and many said the joint request appeared to be aimed more at reducing political tensions between and within the two countries.

The looser borders have begun to pose problems of illegal immigration, as immigrants who arrive in one European Union member state can travel freely to others. The joint request reflected the severity of the migration crisis — in practical terms as well as for Italy and France’s domestic politics, in which anti-immigrant parties have substantial influence.

“Neither of us wants to deny Schengen, but in exceptional circumstances, we think there should be variations to the Schengen treaty,” Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said at a joint news conference here with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, after weeks of tensions.

“We want Schengen to work, and to make sure that it works, it has to be reformed,” Mr. Sarkozy added.

In a joint letter to José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the two leaders called on the European Union to “examine the possibility of temporarily establishing internal border controls in the case of exceptional difficulties in handling common external borders, on the basis of conditions to be defined in the future.”

France and Italy also called on the European Union to broaden the role of its border agency, Frontex, to allow it to repatriate illegal immigrants, and to “redefine” Europe’s regulations for immigrants from third countries. Under current regulations, the European country where immigrants first arrive is responsible for determining their status.

Faced with the likelihood of a wave of immigrants arriving in Europe from Libya, they also called for a common European Union policy on those seeking political asylum. Each country currently has its own standards.

In recent weeks, Italy has been reluctant to become involved in the intervention championed by France to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from Libya, a former Italian colony. France has been reluctant to admit third-country immigrants from Italy — most of them from Tunisia, which historically has had close ties to France.

Italy infuriated France by issuing some Tunisians travel papers allowing them to leave Italy for France, which has tried to block them at its borders with Italy.

Rachel Donadio reported from Rome, and Alan Cowell from London.

 

French troops advance in Abidjan

 11 April 2011 Last updated at 08:08 ET A pro-Gbagbo naval base in Abidjan was on fire after the air strikes on Sunday French ground troops have entered the centre of the main Ivory Coast city of Abidjan for the fist time as incument leader Laurent Gbagbo refuses to quit.

Helicopter gunships are firing in the area around Mr Gbagbo's residence.

On Sunday, UN and French helicopter gunships began a new operation they said was aimed at destroying heavy weapons near Mr Gbagbo's residence.

Mr Gbagbo has been refusing to cede power to internationally-recognised President Alassane Ouattara.

Loud explosions can be heard echoing around the lagoons which surround the centre of the city, says the BBC's Mark Doyle in Abidjan.

On Monday morning, a large column of French armoured vehicles left the French military base in Abidjan.

A spokesman for Mr Ouattara has said his troops were involved as well, and that this was the largest joint attack since the conflict began.

The action will not stop until Mr Gbagbo steps down, the spokesman added.

French helicopter strikes have partially destroyed Mr Gbagbo's residence, one of his ministers said.

But the Ivorian leader was still alive, according to one of his spokesmen in Paris, quoted by Reuters news agency.

An aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the French strikes are to avoid a "bloodbath" rather than to depose Mr Gbagbo.

Sunday strikes

Monday's strikes came a day after a hotel serving as the headquarters for Mr Ouattara came under fire.

The French, who are by far the best equipped military force in Ivory Coast, are operating with a United Nations mandate, our correspondent adds.

Their official justification for Monday's action is to remove Mr Gbagbo's heavy weapons, which the UN says have been used against civilians, and have also been targeting the UN.

Mr Gagbo's side says this is just a pretext, and that the French want to kill the incumbent leader.

Mr Gbagbo has been surrounded in his residence for days by pro-Ouattara troops.

 

Net giants challenge French law

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
6 April 2011 Last updated at 10:01 ET The French government wants access to a range of data stored by Google, eBay and others Google and Facebook are among a group of net heavyweights taking the French government to court this week.

The legal challenge has been brought by The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC) and relates to government plans to keep web users' personal data for a year.

The case will be heard by the State Council, France's highest judicial body.

More than 20 firms are involved, including eBay and Dailymotion.

The law obliges a range of e-commerce sites, video and music services and webmail providers to keep a host of data on customers.

This includes users' full names, postal addresses, telephone numbers and passwords. The data must be handed over to the authorities if demanded.

Police, the fraud office, customs, tax and social security bodies will all have the right of access.

ASIC head Benoit Tabaka believes that the data law is unnecessarily draconian. "Several elements are problematic," he said.

"For instance, there was no consultation with the European Commission. Our companies are based in several European countries.

"Our activities target many national markets, so it is clear that we need a common approach," said Mr Tabaka.

ASIC also thinks that passwords should not be collected and warned that retaining them could have security implications.

"This is a shocking measure," added Mr Tabaka.

The main aim of the legal challenge, which will be launched later this week, is to see the law cancelled.

Privacy record

Both Facebook and Google have run into privacy-related problems in the past.

Facebook was forced to overhaul its privacy settings following criticism that they were too complex.

Google was criticised for lack of privacy in its Buzz social network, which it linked to Gmail accounts without seeking prior permission from users.

The search giant eventually agreed to submit to annual privacy audits as part of a settlement reached over the controversy.

France took tough action against Google when it accidentally collected personal data during the setting up of its Street View service.

The French privacy watchdog, CNIL, was one of the only bodies to fine the company. The ￡87,000 fine was the largest ever handed out by CNIL.

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