This is unprecedented in France. The incumbent Minister of Justice has been in the dock of a court for ten days on Monday, accused of conflicts of interest in the exercise of his office.
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“For me and my loved ones, this trial is a disgrace,” declared Éric Dupond-Moretti during the first hearing before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only one authorized to convict members of the government for acts committed in the exercise of their duties.
The bar’s former star, 62, is being reported for “illegal acquisition of interests.” He is suspected of using his position as minister to settle disputes with four judges with whom he had disagreements as a lawyer.
AFP
Despite his legal problems, the minister retained the trust of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne expressed “all her confidence” in him on Monday, referring to the “presumption of innocence.”
During the hearing, he will remain minister as if nothing or almost nothing had happened: measures will be taken “to ensure the proper functioning of public authorities and the continuity of the state,” said a government source.
If he is found guilty of “illegal interest protection,” he faces five years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros, as well as an additional penalty of suspension and ban from holding public office. His departure from the government to which he was appointed in July 2020 would be inevitable.
“Illegitimacy process”
“You said you waited quietly to explain yourself,” said CJR President Dominique Pauthe as he finished reading the factual report. “I believe, Mr. Dupond-Moretti, that the time has come.”
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“Until these last hours I have not defended myself,” replied the Minister of Justice, “mainly so as not to tarnish my service and my actions.” “I intend to defend myself with dignity and complete dignity, but I intend to defend myself vigorously.”
“Mr President, this trial is, in my eyes, first and foremost a trial of illegitimacy,” continued Éric Dupond-Moretti, recalling that at the origin of the complaint lodged against him, the judges’ unions had restricted his appointment to the Ministry of the Court of “declaration of war “.
While there were voices in the opposition criticizing the Minister’s retention in his post during this trial, Rémy Heitz, who brought forward the accusation, addressed the judges (three professional judges and twelve parliamentarians from all sides) to remind us: that this process is very unusual and was “of course not without difficulties”.
“The witnesses who will appear are largely judges, including certain members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and whose career depends on the very person you are preparing to convict,” specified the Prosecutor General of the Court of Cassation, asking the judges a “constant concern for objectivity and impartiality”.
A kind of “preliminary indictment”, “very useless”, replied Éric Dupond-Moretti’s lawyer Me Jacqueline Laffont and asked the judges to be satisfied with “the facts and the law”.
Rough relationships
The case begins at the end of June 2020, on the sidelines of the so-called “Paul Bismuth” corruption case against former President Nicolas Sarkozy, when the weekly Le Point reveals that the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) had the telephone bills of several lawyers, including Éric Dupond- Moretti to track down a possible mole who would have informed Mr. Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog that they were being wiretapped.
Éric Dupond-Moretti, a very close friend of Me Herzog, denounces a “Barbouzard investigation” and files a complaint.
The then Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet had called for a “company inspection”. After becoming minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti then ordered an administrative investigation against two judges and the head of the PNF to identify possible individual errors.
During the investigation, Éric Dupond-Moretti, who has always maintained rough relations with the judges, denounced a “biased” instruction aimed at “tarnishing the reputation of a former lawyer” and his trial on “illegitimacy in the occupation of the functions of the Keeper of “fuel the seals”.
The questioning of the former lawyer, a distinguished litigant with some 140 acquittals who earned him the nickname “Acquittal,” is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
About twenty witnesses will be called to the stand during the trial, which is scheduled to end on November 16.
Among them were the former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet, who was present in the room at the opening of the hearing, the former Prime Minister Jean Castex or the former Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, François Molins.