« Garde à vue »

A ‘garde à vue’ is a restraining measure decided by a police officer when a suspect is — for one or multiple reasons — considered potentially guilty of having committed, or tried to commit, a crime or a misdemeanour punishable by prison time.

A lawyer can now assist a client during his/her ‘garde a vue’ interrogations and face to face confrontations with other witnesses.

Article 63-3-1 of the Code de procédure pénale states that « The lawyer can also be chosen by the person(s) under investigation, as per the first paragraph of article 63-2. This choice must be confirmed by the person(s). »

If the police station (commissariat) informs you that a family member, or someone close to you, is in ‘garde à vue,’ you may chose a lawyer to assist the person being questioned and held.

The network’s lawyers’ intervention is important because it allows the person under suspicion to be counselled and receive assistance from the very beginning of the procedure. For it is only after a ‘garde a vue’, and after reading the transcripts, that the prosecutor decides, or not, to press charges.