New Laws Granting Immunity to Police in France and Italy Raise Concerns

The French National Assembly passed a controversial bill introducing a presumption of legality for firearms discharged by police and gendarmerie, with a vote of 313 to 199. Under this new regulation, if a uniformed officer fires a weapon, it will be initially presumed legal, and the burden of proving otherwise will rest on the prosecutor. The bill was introduced by Éric Pauget, a deputy from the right-wing Les Républicains party, in late March 2024, and was subsequently rewritten with contributions from Interior Minister Laurent Nunez before being brought to the assembly's agenda. The decision was protested at the Palais Bourbon in Paris, as families and supporters of police victims were removed from the hall chanting "No justice, no peace." Described as a "disgraceful vote" by Amnesty International, this development has created a deep division on the country's political agenda.

The number of fatal police shootings in France is among the highest in Europe and is steadily increasing. In 2022, 50 people were killed by police gunfire, and in 2023, 49 people lost their lives, while this number rose to 69 in 2024. Following the expansion of conditions for the use of firearms against moving vehicles by the Cazeneuve law passed in 2017, incidents of deadly fire directed at individuals in automobiles are reported to have increased fivefold. Left-wing deputy Pouria Amirshahi argues that the new regulation will make it easier for police officers to pull the trigger without fear of being held accountable, creating a culture of institutional impunity. Furthermore, it is highlighted that only two percent of the cases filed regarding police violence since 2017 have resulted in a definitive conviction, indicating that impunity de facto already exists, but the law will formalize it.

A broad social and institutional opposition has also emerged against the bill in France. A petition campaign initiated by Issam El Khalfaoui, whose son was killed by police in 2021, has gathered more than 500 thousand signatures. Amnesty International points to the case of Nahel Merzouk, who was killed during a traffic stop in Nanterre in 2023, emphasizing that the police officer's claim of self-defense could only be refuted by an amateur camera recording. Alongside institutions such as the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH), the French Defender of Rights, and the Human Rights League, the police union named CGT-İçişleri has also opposed the bill, demanding its withdrawal. This broad opposition front shares the concern that the law will weaken democratic oversight over law enforcement.

In Italy, the government is moving toward a similar goal more slowly but just as clearly. The administration led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been working on legal regulations aimed at protecting police officers since 2024. Following decree-law no. 48 in April 2025, which included economic protections, a bill amending Article 335 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and introduced by Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) has been brought to the agenda. The incident where police officer Carmelo Cinturrino killed a person in Rogoredo claiming self-defense, and the subsequent refutation of this version by investigations, has been one of the factors accelerating the process. Triggered by this and similar incidents, the bill in question was approved on 5 February 2026 and entered into force on 24 April as law no. 54.

The most crucial element of the new security package enacted in Italy, unlike in France, is a procedure that creates a de facto "criminal shield" for the police, even though it does not change the burden of proof. If a clear case of legitimate defense is evident, instead of registering the officer as a suspect, the prosecutor logs the case in a separate file that allows for longer investigation periods. Another critical section of the law is the 12-hour "preventive custody" measure, which allows individuals deemed to pose a threat to peaceful demonstrations to be detained based on their records from the past five years. Under this provision, 91 anarchists in Rome, who had committed no crime, were detained by plainclothes police solely for attending a memorial ceremony, a situation Prime Minister Meloni defended on social media. Amnesty International, in a statement issued in June, stated that the law poses a threat to the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and fair trial, calling for its urgent repeal.