PARIS, France
More than 700 people have been sentenced to prison over riots in France late last month, the country's justice minister said Wednesday, lauding the "firm" response of magistrates.
In total, 1,278 verdicts have
been handed down, with over 95 percent of defendants convicted on a range of
charges from vandalism to attacking police officers.
Six hundred people have
already been jailed.
"It was extremely
important to have a response that was firm and systematic," Justice
Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told RTL radio. "It was essential that we
reestablish national order."
The most intense urban
violence in France since 2005 began on June 27 after a police officer shot dead
a 17-year-old boy with North African roots during a traffic stop west of Paris,
in an incident recorded by a passerby.
The riots were contained after
four nights of serious clashes thanks to the deployment of around 45,000
security forces, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.
Dupond-Moretti had led calls
for courts to hand down harsh sentences as a deterrent, with some staying open
over the weekend of the clashes to handle a backlog of cases.
Many suspects faced immediate
appearances and some defence lawyers have raised concerns about the fairness of
the judicial process and the heavy use of custodial sentences.
The average age of the over
3,700 people arrested was just 17, with the minors appearing in separate
children's courts.
The number of people sentenced
to prison exceeds the number in 2005 at the time of the last major riots when
around 400 people were sent to jail.
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