Jean-François Ricard (born 14 July 1956) is a French

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

, and since 25 June 2019 the first prosecutor of the National Terrorism Prosecution Office (; PNAT) a '' parquet'' for the prosecution of

terrorism in France {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Terrorism in France , partof = the Opération Sentinelle, War on terror, Islamic terrorism in Europe , image = Lieu de l'attentat du 14 juillet 2016 à Nice cropped.jpg ...

Early life and education

Ricard was born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

(

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

), France.

Career

Ricard began his career in December 1982 as a judge in

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

(

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

). He then was a judge in Bobigny (

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

), beginning in December 1986, before joining the judiciary in Paris. Ricard worked as an investigating judge in charge of terrorism cases for 12 years. With Jean-Louis Bruguière, Ricard was in charge of the file of the 1996 Paris RER bombing on the Réseau Express Régional in Saint-Michel. Ricard left his role as an investigating judge in 2006. From 2006 to 2008 Ricard was seconded to the Ministry of Armed Forces, where he led a team as head of the military criminal affairs division. Between 2009 and 2015, he was general counsel at the Court of Appeal of Paris. Ricard requested the trial of the terrorist

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal () or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convict who conducted a series of assassinations and terrorist bombings from 1973 to 1985. A committed Marxist–Leninist, ...

in 2013. Beginning in 2015, Ricard was adviser to the criminal chamber of the French

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

French National Terrorism Prosecution Office

Ricard advocated for the creation of a French national anti-terrorism prosecution along with Magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière, Michel Debacq (former head of the specialized section of the Paris prosecutor's office), and (former chief of staff of

Christiane Taubira Christiane Marie Taubira (; born 2 February 1952) is a French politician who served as Minister of Justice of France in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault and Manuel Valls under President François Hollande from 2012 until 20 ...

and Élisabeth Guigou). After the receipt of the opinion of France's Superior Council of the Judiciary (; CSM) at its meeting of 21 May 2019, the 62-year-old Ricard was appointed General Counsel at the

to exercise the function of anti-terrorism public prosecutor at the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, heading a new National Terrorism Prosecution Office (; PNAT), beginning on 25 June 2019. He leads a team of 25 magistrates. His reputation among his colleagues was that he is uncompromising and perfectionist. Magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière said: "He is a very good magistrate with good understanding on major cases of radical

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

. A hard worker and very meticulous, he knew the files by heart." During his time in office, Ricard led investigations into a stabbing attack near the former offices of the magazine ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

'' in September 2020, the murder of Samuel Paty in October 2020, the 2020 Nice stabbing later that month, and the Rambouillet knife attack in April 2021. Shortly after the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Ricard opened three inquiries over possible war crimes in the Ukrainian towns of Mariupol, Hostomel and Chernihiv, all related to acts against French citizens in the country.Benoit Van Overstraeten (5 April 2022)
France opens inquiries over possible war crimes in Ukraine
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, Jean-François 1956 births People from Boulogne-Billancourt Living people 20th-century French judges 21st-century French judges