Section 6: Mandates and their execution

If the person who is the subject of an arrest warrant is discovered after the settlement of the information, the procedure shall be in accordance with the provisions of this article.

The public prosecutor of the place of arrest shall be notified as soon as the police or gendarmerie services begin to detain the person. During this detention, the provisions of article 133-1 shall apply. Detention may not last more than twenty-four hours.

The person shall be brought as soon as possible and at the latest within twenty-four hours of his arrest before the public prosecutor of the judicial court in whose jurisdiction the court hearing the case has its seat. After checking his identity and notifying him of the warrant, this magistrate presents him before the liberty and custody judge.

The liberty and custody judge may, at the request of the public prosecutor, either place the person under judicial supervision or order that he or she be remanded in custody until he or she appears before the trial court, by reasoned order in accordance with the provisions of article 144, made following an adversarial hearing organised in accordance with the provisions of the fourth to ninth paragraphs of l'article 145. If the person is placed in detention, the time limits provided for by the fourth and fifth paragraphs of Article 179 and by the eighth and ninth paragraphs of Article 181 are then applicable and run from the detention order. The decision of the liberty and custody judge may be appealed, within ten days of its notification, to the correctional appeals chamber if the person is referred to the correctional court and to the investigating chamber if the person is referred to the assize court.

If the person has been arrested more than two hundred kilometres from the seat of the trial court and it is not possible to bring him before the public prosecutor mentioned in the third paragraph within the twenty-four hour period, he is brought before the liberty and custody judge at the place of arrest, who checks his identity, notifies him of the warrant and receives any statements he may make after warning him that he is free not to make any. The magistrate then executes the warrant by having the person taken to the prison and notifies the public prosecutor of the judicial court in whose jurisdiction the trial court sits. The latter orders the transfer of the person, who must appear before him or her within four days of notification of the warrant; this period is extended to six days in the event of transfer between an overseas department and mainland France or another overseas department. Proceedings are then conducted in accordance with the provisions of the third and fourth paragraphs. The appearance before the public prosecutor and the appearance before the liberty and custody judge of the judicial court referred to in the third paragraph may also be carried out, within the aforementioned time limits, in accordance with the procedures set out in Article 706-71, unless the person refuses to do so; the person may not, however, refuse recourse to these arrangements if their transportation appears to have to be avoided due to serious risks of disturbing public order or escape. In this case, there is no need to order the person's transfer.

The presentation before the liberty and custody judge provided for in the fourth paragraph is not necessary if, within the time limits set for this presentation, the person can appear before the court hearing the case.

The provisions of this article also apply to arrest warrants issued after the settlement order. They shall not, however, apply where, subsequent to the issue of the arrest warrant issued in the course of the investigation or after its settlement, the person has been sentenced to a custodial sentence, either in respect of a criminal offence by a judgment in which both parties were heard or deemed to have been heard, or in respect of a criminal offence by a judgment rendered in absentia; nor shall they apply where the warrant was issued following such a conviction. In such cases, without it being necessary to bring the person before the liberty and custody judge, the arrested person shall be remanded in custody until the expiry of the time limits for appeal and, in the event of an appeal, until his or her appearance before the court of judgment, without prejudice to his or her right to apply for release.