LETELLIER v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 5 It is necessary in order to protect public order from the disturbance caused by the offence and to ensure that the accused remains at the disposal of the judicial authorities. ... ." As a result, the applicant, who had been released on 24 December 1985, returned to prison on 22 January 1986. 14. At the hearing on 16 January 1986 Mrs Letellier had filed a defence memorial. In it she stressed that she had waited until the main phase of the investigation had been concluded before lodging her application for release; thus all the witnesses had been heard by the police or by the investigating judge, two series of confrontations with Mr Moysan had taken place and all the commissions rogatoires had been executed. She noted in addition that Article 144 et seq. of the Code of Criminal Procedure in no way regarded the gravity of the alleged offences as one of the conditions for placing and keeping an accused in pre-trial detention and that the parties seeking damages (parties civiles) had not filed any observations on learning of her release. She urged the indictments division to confirm the order of 24 December 1985 releasing her subject to court supervision and stated that she had no intention whatsoever of evading the prosecution, that she would comply scrupulously with the court supervision, that she could provide firm guarantees that she would appear in court and that further imprisonment would destroy, both financially and emotionally, a whole family, whose sole head she remained. 15. Mrs Letellier filed an appeal which the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation dismissed on 21 April 1986 on the following grounds: "... In setting aside the order for the release subject to court supervision of Monique Merdy, née Letellier, accused of being an accessory to the murder of her husband, the indictments division, after having set out the facts and noted the existence of divergences between her statements and the various testimonies obtained, observed that the offence had caused a disturbance to public order which had not yet diminished, that, as the investigation was continuing, it was important to prevent any manoeuvre likely to impede the establishment of the truth and bring pressure to bear on the witnesses, and that the severity of the sentence to which the accused was liable at law raised doubts as to whether she would appear for trial if she were released; the indictments division considered that no measure of court supervision could be effective in these various respects; That being so the Court of Cassation is able to satisfy itself that the indictments division ordered the continued detention of Monique Merdy, née Letellier, by a decision stating specific grounds with reference to the particular circumstances and for cases provided for in Articles 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; ... ."