22 MEDVEDYEV AND OTHERS v. FRANCE JUDGMENT Secondly, French law applied because the Winner had been flying no flag and had refused to identify itself. 58. As to the quality of the legal basis, which the Chamber had questioned, the Government maintained that the specificity of the law of the sea had to be taken into consideration to appreciate the precise meaning of the legal standards; the French Law of 15 July 1994, in conjunction with Cambodia’s agreement in conformity with the provisions of Article 17 § 4 of the Vienna Convention and the Montego Bay Convention, had authorised the rerouting of the ship. So, as the law provided for the ship to be rerouted, it also provided for restriction of the freedom of movement of those on board, as the two were inseparable. According to the Government, the rerouting was nevertheless to be considered as a preliminary to the suspects being brought before the judicial authorities. 59. In any event, the unpredictability of navigation and the vastness of the oceans made it impossible to provide in detail for every eventuality when ships were rerouted. The Government considered that the allegation that it had not been possible for the applicants to contact a relative or a lawyer was unfounded, as the technical conditions for such contact were not always available; besides, as the applicants had not established that they had been in contact with their families or their lawyers prior to the interception by the French navy, their practical situation had not been altered by the rerouting of their ship. The Government also pointed out that the length of the voyage had merely been a material contingency and that the applicants had not been questioned during the thirteen days spent on board, naval personnel having no power to take such action. Accordingly, the Government considered that the right to contact a lawyer or a family member would have been theoretical and illusory. 60. The Government then broached the matter of supervision by the public prosecutor. They argued that the Chamber judgment confused the notions referred to in Article 5 §§ 1 (c) and 3 of the Convention, while noting that the applicants were to be presented, when they arrived in Brest, not to the public prosecutor but to an investigating judge. 61. They saw the fact that the rerouting of the ship had been carried out under the supervision of the public prosecutor as a guarantee against arbitrary treatment, arguing that in view of the guarantees of independence public prosecutors offered, they should be considered judicial authorities. On this last point the Government developed arguments demonstrating the guarantees of the independence of public prosecutors in terms of their status, the way they were recruited, their powers and their institutional role. They pointed out, in particular, that Article 64 of the French Constitution enshrined the independence of the “judicial authority” and that the Constitutional Council had found that the said judicial authority included both judges and public prosecutors.