Nearly a week after his appointment, during which he made the fight against drug trafficking a priority, the Minister of Justice is visiting Marseille this Thursday. Lawyers and prison officers are demanding concrete resources and announcements.
Gérald Darmanin knows Marseille well. Minister of the Interior for more than four years, he has already been there 34 times, almost always to discuss the drug trafficking which is plaguing the city. This Thursday, it is with another hat, that of Keeper of the Seals, that the former mayor of Tourcoing goes there again. This trip comes at the end of another bloody year in Marseille. Certainly, the number of settlements has decreased compared to the previous year. According to the latest figures from police headquarters, 24 homicides linked to drug trafficking were recorded in 2024, compared to more than double the previous year (49). But the situation is still tense, the year 2024 having been marked by the rise in power of the DZ Mafia clan, which has almost eradicated its great rival, the Yoda gang.
Magic wand wave
Barely appointed, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, came to Marseille at the beginning of November, accompanied by Didier Migaud (then Keeper of the Seals), for a highly anticipated first trip. During a solemn joint press conference, the two ministers of the short-lived Barnier government promised to make the fight against drug trafficking a national cause.
A few months later, a new Minister of Justice is heading to the Old Port. « Every time they take up their posts, the Ministers of Justice come to Marseille, but it's always a mess »says Cyril Huet-Lambing, deputy general secretary of the prison guards’ union in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, impatiently. While Gérald Darmanin affirmed to Parisian last weekend wanted to isolate in prison the 100 biggest drug traffickers in the country, this trip is strongly awaited.
« We have a minister who knows the subject of drug banditry well, recognizes Cyril Huet-Lambing. He wants to revolutionize everything. He wants to innovate. But for a long time we were told that there was no more money. What magic wand will Gérald Darmanin give? ? » The trade unionist deplores a serious shortage of staff at the Baumettes penitentiary center as well as in the Aix-Luynes prison in Aix-en-Provence, two establishments which house the main Marseille drug traffickers.
Saturated prisons
« Today you cannot monitor drug traffickers, he says. They do what they want. We cannot do our job optimally when we do not have enough resources. The situation is more than catastrophic. We no longer have staff and it is the inmates who make the law. » At the start of 2024, Aix-Luynes and Les Baumettes, the two largest prisons in Bouches-du-Rhône, among the largest in France, were already on the verge of implosion. In Baumettes, last April, the occupancy rate of neighborhoods reserved for men reached 189.23%.
Saturation is also reaching the Marseille court. « We are a jurisdiction in default, alerts the President of the Marseille Bar, Me Marie-Dominique Poinso-Pourtal. We have few resources. Our deadlines are dizzying. For a divorce, we now have nine months to wait. » Last October, during the solemn hearing to present the new magistrates and clerks, the president of the Marseille judicial court publicly expressed his concern about drug trafficking.
The difficulties are particularly glaring in the service of the judge of freedoms and detention, « obviously undersized in Marseille with five magistrates, where there are seven in Lyon »according to Olivier Leurent, president of the court. He then demanded « twelve more magistrates, seat and prosecution combined ». A condition « essential if we want to be able to absorb the explosion of drug trafficking and organized crime, and above all judge these cases ». Monday, Gérald Darmanin spoke with the new Minister responsible for Public Accounts in the hope « to increase the budget of the Ministry of Justice ».
