Arrested in Lyon: a business city on the Alpine corridor
Lyon is a business and pharmaceutical centre with a large student population, positioned on the corridor towards Italy and Switzerland. Its caseload divides between corporate proceedings, transit cases and the ordinary life of a big city.
What actually happens here
- Corporate and financial proceedings, given the concentration of headquarters and industry, with the entity itself frequently a party.
- Transit. The routes to Italy and Switzerland produce customs, cash and narcotics cases involving people passing through.
- Students, whose institution runs a disciplinary process on a different timetable from the court — see the guide for students.
- Nightlife around the Presqu'île and the riverbanks: fights, and complaints from both sides.
- Demonstrations, frequent, with resisting a public official the charge that recurs.
- Saint-Exupéry airport: customs and alert-based arrests.
For a company, the point that matters is that French procedure allows the legal person to be prosecuted alongside the individuals, and the two defences diverge quickly. Separate counsel from the outset is not a formality.
The French clock, in short
In Lyon the garde à vue lasts 24 hours and can be extended once to 48, which is the ordinary limit for any offence carrying imprisonment. France has no bail: the magistrate decides between release, judicial supervision and detention. The full framework is in the guide for France.
Frequently asked questions
How long can French police hold me?
Twenty-four hours, extendable once by the prosecutor to forty-eight, in writing and with reasons.
I was stopped travelling towards Italy.
Transit cases are common on this corridor, and being non-resident is the profile on which detention is ordered. An address and documents answer it.
Can my company be prosecuted?
Yes. French law allows the legal person to be prosecuted alongside the individuals, and the two defences diverge quickly.
Do I have to answer before my lawyer arrives?
No questioning may begin without your lawyer present, so the interview should not start at all.
If this is happening now
In France no interview may begin without a lawyer present, so the hours before it are the ones that count. First contact is free and covered by professional privilege, at any hour.