Youn judicial green light that did not pass. Contrary to expectations and despite warnings from the prison administration, a 52-year-old drug trafficker, who is among the 100 most dangerous prisoners in the country, will benefit from so-called “employer” leave on Monday. Validated on Friday 21 November by the sentence enforcement chamber of the Douai Court of Appeal, this authorization will allow him to meet with potential recruiters in the Lyon area. An approach that is considered to be closely linked to its reintegration, but for many professionals, this is impossible.
Because this decision is contrary to the opinion of the leadership of the Vendin-le-Vieil company and the Béthune prosecutor’s office, explains the BFTMV. The latter even filed an appeal, which was summarily rejected by the Douai judge. As required by the system, permission, which is theoretically shallow but unprecedented for such a profile, will be carried out without assistance. The prisoner’s wife will provide daytime round trip transportation to Pas-de-Calais.
A spectacular escape
Hailing from the town of 4,000 inhabitants in La Courneuve, this man is considered one of the godfathers of the history of drug trafficking in Seine-Saint-Denis. His criminal record includes several serious convictions, including eight years in prison in 2012 for “drug trafficking” and “criminal association.” He was later fined 50,000 euros and banned from entering Seine-Saint-Denis.
But it was his spectacular escape on June 4, 2014 that definitively placed him in the landscape of organized crime. Escorted by four unarmed monitors during a medical examination at Saint-Denis hospital, he was arrested by armed commandos as he returned to his van. Fifteen days of flight would follow, before his capture at Blanc-Mesnil.
At the hearing, he lost his temper: “I can’t take it anymore, when am I going to move on with my life?” I am 42 years old, I have 25 years in prison. Did I kill someone? Am I stealing from someone? It’s amazing, just incredible! » he said annoyed before the deliberation, as quoted by TF1. Since then, his prison journey has taken him from the South West to Vendin-le-Vieil, in the new District to combat organized crime (QLCO). His release remains scheduled for 2029.
“Unrelated” and “unreasonable” decisions.
Without commenting on the decision, as required by his ministry, Gérald Darmanin continued to react to the media storm. In X, he believes that “this episode highlights” a legal system that is not suited to “serious organized crime.” The Minister of Justice wants to go further: for him, “this highly structured and dangerous profile requires a different set of laws and very special vigilance”. He appealed to “special laws and special enforcement judges who know the profile of the danger perfectly.”
To find
Kangaroo todayAnswer
The decision to grant permission for temporary absence rests with the judiciary, which makes the decision independently. As Minister of Justice, I have never commented on individual decisions of a judge, despite opposition from public prosecutors and heads of institutions…— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) November 23, 2025
The union’s reaction was not long in coming. Justice Ufap-Unsa condemned “a decision that is completely inconsistent with the requirements, realities and limitations imposed every day on prison staff”. Unions even saw it as a threat to the QLCO regime: “This permission is not incomprehensible: it discredits the QLCO regime and exposes the absurdity of a system that no longer knows what it wants.”
