Surveillance measures decreed during the Olympic Games extended to the Strasbourg Christmas market

by Layli Foroudi and Juliette Jabkhiro

Paris (Reuters) – As part of the Paris Olympic Games, France has put in place a vast security system including individual surveillance measures, provisions criticized, some of which have nevertheless been extended to the Strasbourg Christmas market.

The deadly vehicular attack that occurred on Friday at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has also prompted a number of European countries to take a fresh look at the security measures put in place at seasonal markets, which attract large crowds.

During the Paris Games, the Ministry of the Interior strictly limited the movement of people considered to represent a serious security threat via individual administrative control and surveillance measures, known as Micas.

However, some of the people affected by these measures were never brought to justice, as documented by Reuters and other media.

Lawyers and human rights defenders are now concerned that the exceptional surveillance measures put in place during the Olympic Games could become the rule at other events.

According to a parliamentary report published on December 11, at least 547 people were targeted by a Micas during the Olympic Games this summer.

In Strasbourg, Khaled, a Chechen refugee who testifies under the cover of his nickname, was informed by the police that he was prohibited from leaving the city as part of a Micas set up for the Olympic Games.

Although he did not contest the measure at the time, he nevertheless appealed to the Strasbourg administrative court when the Ministry of the Interior decided at the end of August to extend the measure upstream of the market. Christmas in the Alsatian capital, targeted by a deadly attack in 2018.

In a decision rendered on October 3, which Reuters was able to consult, the judges concluded that the measure was “disproportionate”, since Khaled has no criminal record and is not the subject of any judicial investigation. The judges decided to lift certain measures, while maintaining the ban on going to the Strasbourg Christmas market.

The court decision, however, comes too late for Khaled, aged 20, to be able to register for a degree in a higher education establishment where he was to follow a course in cyber security, according to documents presented by his lawyer.

“I lost my school. I lost the year,” Khaled told Reuters, who asked to be identified only by his nickname for fear of seeing his ambitions thwarted if the surveillance measure against him came to be known publicly.

The Interior Ministry and the Bas-Rhin prefecture did not respond to Reuters' questions regarding the Micas donated to secure the Strasbourg Christmas market.

“PREDICTIVE JUSTICE”

Reuters was able to identify at least 12 such cases based on legal documents and interviews with lawyers and one of the people affected by one of these measures.

At least ten of the people concerned have not been convicted of terrorism-related activities, although one of them has already been banned from entering the Strasbourg Christmas market in the past. Reuters was unable to obtain details of the other two people.

For comparison, the Bas-Rhin prefecture issued seven Micas in total, all reasons included, over a period of 12 months during the five years following the entry into force of the law strengthening internal security and the fight against terrorism, known as the SILT law, adopted in November 2017, according to figures provided by the Ministry of the Interior to Parliament.

“The Olympics were the Micas fair, and so now, I have the impression that on the part of the Ministry of the Interior, they are a little unbridled on any event which attracts hundreds of thousands (of people)” , observes David Poinsignon, a lawyer who represents four other people affected by a Micas during the Olympic Games.

Two of these people saw the measures taken against them extended for the duration of the Christmas market.

David Poinsignon is particularly concerned to see cases of people who have never been convicted of activities linked to terrorism. “It almost becomes an instrument of predictive justice,” he believes.

At least 53 of the orders related to the Olympics and Christmas markets this year have been suspended by the courts, according to the December parliamentary report and a Reuters analysis of appeals filed with the Strasbourg administrative court.

France should use Micas orders sparingly “to address a credible terrorist risk, when less intrusive means would not be sufficient,” Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on the fight against terrorism and human rights, told Reuters. of man.

“Given that they can be imposed without the strong fair trial guarantees of a criminal trial, the risk of abuse, arbitrariness or discrimination is higher,” he emphasizes.

The Interior Ministry declined to comment. In July, the former Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, indicated that these measures were only taken against “very dangerous” people.

INCREASE IN JUDICIAL PROCEDURES

The use of Micas comes at a time when safety laws have been regularly tightened in France over the last ten years.

Until recently, these measures were mainly used to monitor people who had served prison sentences.

An intelligence source, who requested anonymity, said in November that Micas had been effective during the Paris Olympics and that authorities would take a similar stance against people who might target Christmas markets.

A major tourist attraction in the city, the Strasbourg Christmas market attracted some three million visitors last year.

In 2018, a man opened fire during this event, killing three people and injuring 11. The attacker, with an “S” file for his proximity to the Islamist movement, was already known to the police.

However, the authorities are facing numerous legal proceedings due to their use of Micas.

Judges have canceled or suspended 50 Micas pronounced due to the Olympic Games “often for insufficient characterization of the threat or the content of intelligence notes”, according to a parliamentary report.

At least three appeals have been won against surveillance measures imposed due to the Christmas market, Strasbourg court documents show.

According to Nicolas Klausser, researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) who studies Micas, the broadening of the type of profiles of people targeted by the measures could in particular explain the increase in appeals validated by the administrative jurisdiction.

Some people may be targeted by a Micas because they know someone who has been convicted of terrorism-related activities, or because they have made comments about the war in the Gaza Strip deemed to be “apology for terrorism.” by the authorities, explains the researcher, specifying that they did not necessarily have a criminal record.

In Khaled's case, a white intelligence note seen by Reuters indicates that he spent time with a person convicted of criminal conspiracy to prepare a terrorist act and another convicted of ” apology for terrorism.

Khaled said these were people he knew but was not close to.

The young man also allegedly told a friend that “a dirty trick was being prepared and that he was going to be frankly delighted” on the eve of the murder of Samuel Paty.

Khaled denies having made such comments, and told Reuters that this conversation was about a marriage and not about the history and geography professor beheaded in October 2020 in front of his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a refugee Russian of Chechen origin aged 18.

For Lucie Simon, Khaled's lawyer, these alleged statements are “total rubbish”. She says no evidence was provided in the intelligence notes and no charges have been brought against her client in connection with the assassination.

The Interior Ministry did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

On December 6, the Ministry of the Interior extended the Micas order against Khaled for a third time. He filed a new appeal against the measure.

(French version Camille Raynaud, edited by Blandine Hénault and Kate Entringer)