‘Could we slap a witness?’ French judge tweets from court

PARIS - France 24

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Two French judges caused a debate this week when they posted supposedly humorous tweets during a trial for attempted murder, pushing judicial authorities to question whether tweeting from the courtroom should be banned.

The magistrates, who go by the names of “Gascogne” and “Ed” (@Proc_Gascogne and @Bip_Ed) on the microblogging site, posted the tweets during a trial for attempted murder in the south-western town of Mont-de-Marsan. Joking about strangling the chief judge in the middle of the courtroom, an “exasperated” Ed suggested killing another court member before the pair mused over the legal implications of slapping a witness. “That’s it, I’ve made the witness cry,” one of them quipped.

The tweets were brought to the attention of the regional judicial authorities, which immediately launched an inquiry. Both “Gascogne” and “Ed”, whose identities were revealed on Wednesday by regional newspaper Sud Ouest, have now closed their Twitter accounts.

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