Prosecutor demonstrates outrage in Paris

French Deputy Prosecutor Sylvie Pantz yesterday joined demonstrators at a Paris Court during a national protest that has shut almost all France’s courts in a stand-off with President Nicolas Sarkozy and his government.

The French president’s incautious comments about the suspect in a murder case – and his complaints of incompetence in the legal system – have sparked a revolt among judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

Most courts in France have been hearing only urgent cases for days.

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After a young waitress disappeared and parts of her body were found in a pond, Mr Sarkozy branded the suspect in the case ‘presumed guilty’ even before trial. Mr Sarkozy also complained of incompetence by magistrates who failed to assign a probation officer to the suspect, who had 15 convictions and had recently been released from prison.

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