But the group will get its chance to do so on Tuesday before an investigative magistrate.

Only certain, designated police officers have the power to conduct criminal investigations, and such investigations are supervised by investigative magistrates.

In particular, outside of crimes in flagrante delicto, law enforcement forces may not conduct searches or arrests without a specific commission from the investigative magistrate.

Are France's aggressive new investigative magistrates going to succeed in putting corrupt officials in jail?

The investigative magistrates took until this year to issue effective international warrants for his arrest.

The rulings by the investigative magistrate open a judicial inquiry that could last up to two years before the suspects are formally charged in a higher court.

In Spain, investigative magistrates like Garzón act as a combination of prosecutor and judge.

However, this was not a full criminal investigation and no investigative magistrate had been named.

Carlo Palermo (born 1947 in Avellino) is an Italian lawyer and investigative magistrate.

He was named investigative magistrate in Turin in 1979.