Publications

“It is urgent to react to reconcile the police and the population by taking into account all the ills that police violence reveals.” William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth. Police violence affects people's trust in the police and, through them, in institutions. Our political leaders too often deny its existence and refuse any public debate on the evils that cause it. We are witnessing the obstacles that prevent us from seeing this violence and condemning it. We propose to share our experience as lawyers, with an eye for nuance on a hot topic, while formulating proposals. Finding the remedies needed to put an end to police violence is the condition for restoring the credibility of the police and, beyond that, of the judicial authority. A democratic and citizen emergency.

For several years, France, “homeland of human rights”, has experienced an unprecedented authoritarian drift, breaking with its history and its claims of exemplarity. The authors of this book, Jérôme Hourdeaux and Vincent Brengarth, respectively journalist and lawyer working in the field of fundamental freedoms, were privileged witnesses to this and wrote this book as much as an implacable observation as it was a call to action.

‍

France has taken a security turn that has accelerated since the Charlie Hebdo attacks to such an extent that its legal arsenal is considered to be one of the most repressive in Europe. In this context, what are the current and potential excesses of the state of emergency on our freedoms and our democracy?
The tension between the need for security (now effectiveness in the fight against terrorism) and the need to protect freedoms has never been so central to the democratic debate. This tension challenges us more than ever in light of the attacks that have occurred and the threats that weigh on France today...

Media lawyer, great defender of Human Rights, William Bourdon travels the world on behalf of his association Sherpa, focused on the concept of corporate social responsibility. It is understandable that this vigilant professional was particularly attentive to the emergence of the whistleblower phenomenon. The Snowden, Falciani, Frachon and others Julian Assange have paved the way for greater transparency and contributed to free speech in all aspects of society. Admittedly, their motivations are diverse, fuelled by a genuine concern for the general interest, but also sometimes by more personal motivations. However, all these reasons, good or not so good, have a common objective: to clean up a corrupt society in which they no longer want to be complicit. But what does the law say? What legal framework do these whistleblowers fit into? So here is, for the first time, the vademecum that will make it possible to support this new citizen movement.