The relationship of the public prosecutor to the judicial authority: the French experience as a model

Abstract

Since the European Court of Human Rights issued its rulings in the cases of Medvedyev and Moulin, the relationship between the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary has fundamentally changed from what it once was. For the first time in France's history, the accepted notion of the Public Prosecutor's Office as an inseparable part of the judiciary has come under scrutiny. This research is an attempt to study the relationship between the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary before and after these rulings, by analyzing the arguments and justifications presented by the European Court to support its decisions.