TITLE VIII - On Judicial Authority

ARTICLE 66.

No one shall be arbitrarily detained.

The Judicial Authority, guardian of the freedom of the individual, shall ensure compliance with this principle in the conditions laid down by statute.

TITLE
PRELIMINARY ARTICLE

III
...
The coercive measures to which such a person may be subjected are taken by or under the effective control of judicial authority. They should be strictly limited to the needs of the process, proportionate to the gravity of the offence charged and not such as to infringe human dignity.

BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE II
INQUIRIES AND IDENTITY CHECKS

CHAPTER I
FLAGRANT FELONIES AND MISDEMEANOURS

Article 63
...
The person so placed in custody may not be held for more than twenty-four hours. However, the detention may be extended for a further period of up to twenty-four hours on the written authorisation of the district prosecutor. The district prosecutor may make this authorisation conditional on the prior production before him of the person detained.

BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE III
INVESTIGATING JURISDICTIONS

CHAPTER I
THE INVESTIGATING JUDGE: THE FIRST-TIER INVESTIGATING JURISDICTION

SECTION VI
ISSUANCE AND EXECUTION OF WARRANTS

Article 126
Any person arrested in accordance with a summons, who has been held for more than twenty-four hours without being interrogated, is deemed arbitrarily detained.
Articles 432-4 to 432-6 of the Criminal Code are applicable to any judges, prosecutors or civil servants who have ordered or knowingly tolerated such an arbitrary retention.

BOOK IV
SOME SPECIFIC PROCEEDINGS

TITLE XXV
PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO ORGANISED CRIME AND DELINQUENCY

CHAPTER II
PROCEDURE

SECTION III
CUSTODY

Article 706-88
For the application of articles 63, 77 and 154, if the inquiry or investigation into one of the offences which falls within the scope of article 706-73 requires it, police custody may exceptionally be subject to two supplementary extensions each of twenty-four hours.
These extensions are authorised by a written and reasoned decision, on the request of the district prosecutor, by either the liberty and custody judge, or the investigating judge.
The person so held must be brought before the judge ruling on the extension before this decision is taken. The second extension may however, in exceptional cases, be authorised without the person's prior appearance if the needs of an investigation in progress or to be carried out require this.
Where the first extension has been agreed, the detainee is examined by a doctor nominated by the district prosecutor, the investigating judge or the judicial police officer. The doctor issues a medical certificate in which he must express an opinion on the continuation of the custody period, which is attached to the case file. The person is informed by the judicial police officer of his right to request a new medical examination. These medical examinations are as of right. A record of this notification is made in the official report and signed by the person concerned. If he refuses to sign, this is noted.
As an exception to the provisions of the first paragraph, if the foreseeable length of the remaining investigations to be carried out after the person has already been in custody for forty-eight hours justify this, the liberty and custody judge or the investigating judge may decide, in accordance with the conditions provided for in the second paragraph, that the custody period will be extended by one single period of forty-eight hours.
A person whose custody is extended in accordance with the provisions of the present article may request to see an advocate after he has been in custody for forty-eight hours and then again after seventy-two hours, according to the conditions provided for by article 63-4. He is informed of this right when he is notified about the extension or extensions, and a note of this, signed by the person concerned, is made in the official report. If he refuses to sign this, this is noted. However, where the inquiry relates to an offence which falls within the scope of 3° and 11° of article 706-73, the interview with a advocate may not take place before he has been in custody for seventy-two hours.