Police Custody Lawyer in Paris

What is garde à vue, the French police custody?

Garde à vue (police custody) is the coercive measure by which a judicial police officer, under the control of the courts, holds a person suspected on plausible grounds of having committed, or attempted to commit, an offence punishable by imprisonment (article 62-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). It is not a conviction and it is not, in itself, a criminal charge: it is an investigative phase, and what is said or signed during those hours weighs on everything that follows.

For an English speaker, the measure can be doubly disorienting: the procedure is conducted in French, the paperwork is in French, and the time pressure is real. The law answers part of that problem: your rights must be notified to you in a language you understand, with an interpreter where necessary (article 63-1). The firm answers the rest: Maître Bruguière assists clients in English, from the police station to the courtroom. This page tells you what to do now; for a step by step explanation of the procedure itself, see the firm's police custody practice page.

How long can police custody last in 2026?

The ordinary limit is 24 hours. The public prosecutor can authorise a single further period of 24 hours, in writing and with reasons, when the offence is punishable by at least one year of imprisonment and the extension is the only way to complete the investigation, which brings the ordinary maximum to 48 hours (article 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Exceptional regimes go further. For offences of organised crime, including organised drug trafficking, two additional 24-hour extensions can be ordered by the liberty and custody judge or the investigating judge, up to 96 hours (article 706-88). In terrorism cases involving a serious risk of imminent action, custody can reach 144 hours (article 706-88-1). The clock runs from the moment liberty was restricted, not from arrival at the station, and every extension must be authorised in due form: these are the first points the firm verifies, because an irregular extension can lead to the annulment of the measure and of the acts that followed it.

What are your rights during garde à vue?

From the first minutes, the law gives you a set of rights that the police must read to you and record (article 63-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure): to know the nature, date and place of the suspected offence; to make statements, answer questions or remain silent; to be assisted by a lawyer; to be assisted by an interpreter if you do not understand French; and to be examined by a doctor, a request the investigators must act on within 3 hours (article 63-3).

You can also have people outside told where you are. Article 63-2 gives you the right to have a relative, your employer and, if you are a foreign national, your consular authorities informed by telephone; save insurmountable circumstances, those steps must be taken within 3 hours of your request, and only the prosecutor can decide to defer them, to protect the investigation or a person. For a foreign client, the consular notification matters in practice: consulates can help locate an English-speaking lawyer, reach family abroad and follow the case. In the firm's experience of Paris police stations, checking that these diligences were actually carried out, and at what time, is one of the most frequent sources of procedural challenge.

What does your lawyer actually do during police custody?

The lawyer's role begins with a confidential interview, which the law caps at 30 minutes and renews if custody is extended (article 63-4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Half an hour is short: it is used to identify the legal qualification of the facts, decide whether to answer questions or remain silent, and anticipate what the investigators will ask. The lawyer then consults the custody paperwork: the report notifying the measure and your rights, the medical certificate and the records of your interviews (article 63-4-1).

Since the law of 22 April 2024, applicable to custody measures since 1 July 2024, the balance has changed: a suspect who has asked for a lawyer can no longer be heard on the facts without that lawyer present, unless they expressly waive it; the presence of the lawyer can only be deferred by a written, reasoned decision, for at most 12 hours by the prosecutor, or 24 hours by the liberty and custody judge when the offence is punishable by at least five years (article 63-4-2). During interviews the lawyer takes notes, objects to questions that stray outside the investigation and has observations recorded. And because custody in Paris often ends with a transfer to the tribunal judiciaire at Porte de Clichy for an immediate appearance, the defence of the hearing is prepared during the custody itself: the choice between silence and explanation at 3 a.m. in a commissariat is already a trial decision.

Can family appoint a lawyer for someone in custody?

Yes, and it is often the only way, because the person in custody cannot search for a lawyer themselves. Article 63-3-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows a lawyer to be designated by a family member or another third party; the designation must then be confirmed by the person in custody when the police put it to them. If the chosen lawyer cannot be reached within two hours, the duty lawyer scheme of the Paris Bar takes over.

Concretely: call +33 1 87 66 00 48 and give the person's full name, the police station or unit where they are held, the alleged facts if you know them, and your relationship to the person. The firm notifies its designation to the station, travels there and reports back to you, within the limits of professional secrecy. For minors the framework is stricter still: no custody before the age of 13, and the assistance of a lawyer is mandatory from the outset of the measure (articles L413-6 and L413-9 of the Juvenile Criminal Justice Code), so a parent's call has immediate effect.

What happens when police custody ends?

At the end of the measure, the prosecutor decides. You may be released without immediate proceedings, or summoned to court for a later hearing. For offences punishable by at least two years of imprisonment, or six months where the offence is flagrant, the prosecutor can order an immediate appearance before the criminal court, with a hearing the same day (article 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The prosecutor can also propose a CRPC, the French guilty plea procedure, or open a judicial investigation before an investigating judge (juge d'instruction), which can involve pretrial detention. Each of these paths is prepared during the custody itself, which is why the first phone call matters more than any other step. In an ongoing emergency, the firm's criminal emergency page sets out what to prepare before calling.