TeleObs. – You say that the idea for your film was born of your meeting with the lawyer Philippe-Henry Honegger the day after the attack on “Charlie Hebdo”.
Isabelle Curet. In front of a hostile audience, I heard him claim with great conviction the need to defend all the accused, even if they are terrorists. He then explained to me that he worked in a firm practicing “emergency criminal justice”. It intrigued me. With the agreement of his partner Steve Ruben, I came to attend their meetings for several days. I saw customers scrolling through their office whose stories, cases, turned out to be very different from each other.
I was immediately struck by the unique style of these penalists. I found the gap between their chic costumes, their opulent cabinet in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, and the population they defend, mainly from working-class neighborhoods, particularly interesting.
How is their “emergency penal group” organized?
Emmanuel Guionet. So that everyone can benefit from advice as quickly as possible, they have set up an operation that could be similar to that of a start-up. They see themselves as criminal justice “emergency workers”. Because if it is sometimes necessary to wait months for a judgment to be rendered, the defense must paradoxically be extremely reactive.
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