Victim of a crime on the French Riviera: what to do, your rights and compensation

1. Get safe and get care. If you are injured, see a doctor or go to hospital and keep every medical document. Medical evidence will matter later, when your harm is assessed.
2. File a complaint (plainte, approximate translation: "criminal complaint") at a police station or gendarmerie. Ask for a copy or a receipt.
3. Keep the evidence: photographs of injuries and damage, messages, names and contact details of witnesses, receipts, bank statements in the case of a scam.
4. Contact your consulate if you are a foreign national and need practical help, for example with lost documents.
5. Write down what happened while it is fresh: time, place, description of the people involved.

Police officers and gendarmes must receive complaints from victims, including when the complaint is filed at a unit that is not territorially responsible. In that case, the complaint is passed on to the competent unit where necessary (article 15-3 of the French code of criminal procedure). If you are only passing through, you can therefore file your complaint at the nearest police station, then go home and have a lawyer follow the case. Our French glossary entry on filing a complaint gives more detail.

You do not need a lawyer to file a complaint. A lawyer can, however, help you describe the facts and all the harm you suffered precisely, which matters when compensation is assessed.

The police must inform victims, by any means, of a list of rights (article 10-2). They include the right:

• to obtain compensation for the harm suffered;
• to join the criminal case as a civil party (partie civile, approximate translation: "civil party", meaning a victim who takes part in the criminal case to claim damages);
• to be assisted by a lawyer of your choice or, at your request, appointed by the bar, at your own cost unless you qualify for legal aid or have legal expenses insurance;
• to be helped by a public victim support service or an approved victim support association;
• to apply, where the offence qualifies, to the compensation commission for victims of crime (CIVI);
• to be informed of the protection measures available;
• if you do not understand French, to an interpreter and to a translation of the information essential to the exercise of your rights;
• to be accompanied, at your request, at every stage of the proceedings by a person of your choice, including a lawyer, unless the judicial authority decides otherwise by a reasoned decision;
• to give the address of a third party as your address for the case, with that person's express agreement;
• where a medical examination was ordered by a police officer or a magistrate after violence, to be given the medical certificate.

When your lawyer attends your interview during the investigation, he or she can ask questions at the end of each interview and submit written observations, which are added to the file (article 10-4).

If the offender is identified and prosecuted, you can claim damages in the criminal case as a civil party. Before the criminal court, you can do so at the hearing itself, and a lawyer is not compulsory (article 418). In practice, a lawyer gathers the medical and financial evidence and presents your claim.

You do not have to come back to France for the hearing. French law allows a victim to claim damages in writing, directly or through a lawyer, without appearing in person. With the prosecutor's agreement, the claim can even be made during the police investigation. Our page on claiming damages from abroad explains how this works.

A special commission, the CIVI (commission d'indemnisation des victimes d'infractions, approximate translation: "crime victims' compensation commission"), can award compensation paid by a public guarantee fund. Full compensation for personal injury can be claimed in particular where the facts caused death, permanent incapacity or a total incapacity for work of at least one month, or where they constitute certain listed offences, such as sexual offences. One of the conditions is that the victim is French or that the facts were committed in France: a foreign visitor attacked in Nice can therefore be eligible. Compensation can be refused or reduced because of the victim's own fault (article 706-3).

Victims of theft, fraud, breach of trust, extortion or damage to property can, in limited cases, obtain capped compensation, subject to a resources ceiling and to being in a serious material or psychological situation (article 706-14).

Deadline: the application must be made within three years of the offence. Where there is a prosecution, the deadline is extended to one year after the final decision. The commission can relieve the applicant of the time bar in certain cases, for example where the applicant was not in a position to assert his or her rights in time (article 706-5).

The CIVI does not cover road accidents governed by the law of 5 July 1985. For those, see our page on road accidents in France. Our French page on the CIVI and the guarantee fund gives more detail.

If you are a victim of domestic violence or of a sexual offence, specific protections and procedures exist. See our French pages on domestic violence and on rape, and contact us in confidence.

Our firm acts for victims before the criminal courts and the CIVI, in Nice, usually before the court of Grasse, and anywhere in France. We can follow your case after you have returned home, keep you informed of each step and present your claim for compensation. Our general page for victims of a crime or an accident gives an overview.

Our firm works mainly in French. If you do not speak French, tell us when you contact us and we will arrange for an interpreter. You can read our fees page, in French, and our French page on legal expenses insurance: your own insurance may cover your lawyer's fees.

I am a tourist. Can I file a complaint and go home?

Yes. Police and gendarmes must receive your complaint, and you can then have a lawyer follow the case from abroad.

Will I have an interpreter at the police station?

If you do not understand French, the police must inform you of your right to an interpreter and to a translation of the information essential to exercising your rights.

Can a foreign tourist be compensated by the CIVI?

Possibly. One condition is that the victim is French or that the facts were committed in France. Other conditions apply, depending on the seriousness of the harm and the type of offence.

How long do I have to apply to the CIVI?

Three years from the offence, extended to one year after the final decision if there is a prosecution, with a possible relief from the time bar.

Do I need a lawyer?

It is not compulsory, but a lawyer helps you make a complete claim, follow the case from abroad and avoid missing deadlines.

The code of criminal procedure is to be reorganised from 1 January 2029 by ordinance no. 2025-1091 of 19 November 2025. The article numbers above are those in force on 5 November 2026.