|
18 August
2008
Lobby
your MP and
MEP
about Abuse of
British Citizen's Human
Rights
in France
If you agree with the
comments below,
please
copy and send them to
your Member of
Parliament
(MP)
and
your Member of the
European
Parliament
(MEP)
and ask
them to ask Gordon Brown, the British
Prime Minister, to do something about
this fundamental and systematic abuse
of the human rights of ordinary, decent
- innocent - British Citizens
in France...
Prolonged
detention without trial
undermines fair trial rights,
including the right to be free
from arbitrary detention and the
presumption of innocence.
Everybody arrested is entitled to
be tried within a reasonable
time, in proceedings that fully
comply with fair trial standards,
or to be released. As the lawyers
at the UK-based
charity, Fair
Trials
International, will
confirm, BRITISH CITIZENS are
held WITHOUT TRIAL in FRANCE for
MONTHS or even YEARS, with
inadequate legal representation
and translation services both
before and when they do
eventually come to
trial.
The current
case in the news, of British
woman, Julia Nichols, is an
example of the travesty of justice
which can occur under the French
legal system which presumes you are
guilty before you are proven
innocent and therefore keeps you
incarcerated in terrible conditions
until that time. Julia was held
without trial for months and
eventually released, but not before
suffering gang rape, starvation, and
beatings - and being driven to
attempt suicide - in a horrendous
French prison.
A related
major concern of the lawyers at
Fair Trials International is the
"European Arrest Warrant". If the
French police simply suspect a
British Citizen of a crime, they
can issue this European Arrest
Warrant and the British Police
have no option but to send that
citizen over to France where,
like Julia Nichols, they will be
held in terrible French prison
conditions for months or even
years until their trial
eventually comes to court. At a
time when President Sarkozy of
France is asking other countries
to respect human rights, this
fundamental abuse of human rights
in his own country is something
the British Government should be
asking him to
address.
Julia's
full horrific story is
told in a book published 18
August 2008...
Day
Trip to Hell
After 18 months
held in terrible conditions
without trial "... a judge
not only told Nichols she could
go home but also confirmed she
was
innocent."
Saturday Observer
16.08.08
|
