International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 25

Terrorism and Criminal Law
already been committed? In the legislation (art. 12 of the Law of November 13, 2014),
the administrative authorities are perfectly within their rights to ask providers of Internet
hosting services to remove terrorist content and, if removal is not forthcoming, to prevent
access to the sites concerned. Does the recognition of this prerogative for administrative
authorities not represent a blurring of the traditional distinction between the administrative
police (assigned to the prevention of criminality) and the judicial police (tasked with its
suppression)? Shouldn’t the blocking of access to Internet sites rather be the responsibility of
the judicial police with the result that such measures would then be decided and monitored
by judicial authority (Juge des libertés et de la détention (JLD) [“liberty and custody judge”]),
acting as the guardian of freedom? Similarly, is government (in this case the Minister of the
Economy together with the Minister of the Interior) not encroaching on the territory of
the judiciary when it decides to freeze the assets of persons who commit acts of terrorism
(Monetary and Financial Code, Legislative section, art. 562-1)? Where does the insidious
shift from complementary to overlapping prevention and enforcement agencies leave the
separation of powers so solemnly proclaimed in art.
At a time when terrorism has struck like never before on French soil, it is important
to recall, as Prime Minister Manuel Valls did in his speech of January 21, 2015, that the
fight against terrorism calls for determination, perseverance, and coherent action. The
immediate reaction is the macho imposition of urgent measures (not emergency measures)
to strengthen the services of the state (reinforcement of the personnel and materiel of the
intelligence services, improvements to the equipment and weaponry of the forces of order,
better detection of the process of radicalization, oddly (?), in prison, the creation of a specific
register for terrorism-related information, and so forth). However, the fight against terrorism
is not simply about the state. It is a fight for civilization because freedom and tolerance are at
stake. In response to the globalization of the threat, the fight against terrorism must win out
over pointless rivalries and become the organizing principle of international relations.
We should also celebrate the present mobilization of the international community
(UN, EU, IMF, NATO, WEF, and more) as well as the many initiatives now emerging (the
Stockholm Program, validated by the European Council in June 2014, the European PNR
(Passenger Name Record) Project, that allows the exchange of air passenger data between
member states, the proposals to modify the rules of the Schengen Agreement on border
controls, among others), all of which are aimed at the eradication of “global terror” which is
now emerging as one of the great challenges of the new millennium.
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