The former attorney general was heard Thursday afternoon before the Court of Justice of the Republic, giving rise to a tense face-to-face with the Minister of Justice.
One was the most popular lawyer in France, with 140 acquittals under his belt. The other, the face of anti-terrorism, with his 55 press conferences given during the wave of attacks which hit the country between 2012 and 2018. Eric Dupond-Moretti and François Molins, two figures of French justice, are confronted under the gold of the great hall of the Paris courthouse, where the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) sits, Thursday November 9. The first, now Minister of Justice, has been on trial there since Monday for illegal taking of interests. The second, retired, was heard as a witness in this case which he requested to be referred to the CJR while he was attorney general at the Court of Cassation.
The enmity between the two men is not feigned. It materialized before the three magistrates and twelve parliamentarians responsible for judging the Minister of Justice, accused of having used his position in order to settle scores with magistrates whom he had publicly criticized when he wore the robe. Among the latter, three judges from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office – Patrice Amar, Lovisa-Ulrika Delaunay-Weiss and Eliane Houlette – who had taken part in the investigation into the “fadettes” of tenors of the bar, including Eric Dupond-Moretti, in the “Paul Bismuth” affair involving Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog.
“I don’t come here to settle scores”
At the helm, François Molins, a slender figure in a dark suit, first dotted the “i”s: “I am not here to make the accusation. I am not implicated either. The accused is not me. I do not come here to settle scores, I am someone who has always privileged dialogue over duel”, he said. Before engaging in an offensive charge.
“I had a particularly hard time with the accusations I was subjected to for three years. It was said that I would have wanted to be a minister instead of the minister, shameful accusations, because they called into question my integrity and my honor.”
François Molins, former prosecutorbefore the Court of Justice of the Republic
Singing voice, but surgical remarks, the law for armor, François Molins set out to deconstruct the minister’s line of defense: namely that the former attorney general has himself put himself in a position of conflict of interest , by recommending an administrative investigation against the magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office before publicly denouncing this approach. And this because he would have wanted “to be Keeper of the Seals and never accepted [sa] nomination”, in the words of Eric Dupond-Moretti. François Molins therefore denied having “ambitious” a political career in government. Before painting an unfavorable picture of Eric Dupond-Moretti, “divisive personality (…) not in phase with the judiciary”.
“They wanted me to share in the management of the conflict of interest”
The former prosecutor notably mentioned at the bar “a meeting at the Elysée”on September 15, 2020, where the Minister of Justice “announces to us that he will refer the disciplinary matter to the Superior Council of the Judiciary”. For François Molins, this decision betrays the intentions of the Minister of Justice: “They wanted me to share in the management of the conflict of interest. The advisors realize that the administrative investigation puts the minister in a difficult position, while referral to the CSM is more comfortable.” A version supported by the prosecution the same morning.
Attorney General Rémy Heitz said the initial idea of the minister and his cabinet was to avoid seizing “a service dependent on its authority” [l’inspection générale de la justice] to carry out an administrative investigation and thus find themselves in “cantilevered”. However, this is the option that was chosen. Heard in the morning, Eric Dupond-Moretti’s former chief of staff, Véronique Malbec, justified this decision by the “shortcomings” within the PNF noted by the report of the general inspection of justice, commissioned by the previous Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet.
But also by the opinion of François Molins himself, requested by telephone on September 15, 2020. “I called Mr. Molins, I had friendship and esteem for himexplained this magistrate. He called me back the next day and said: ‘Referring to the CSM is premature, I think it is better to go to the administrative investigation’.”
“Mr Molins soaped my board”
“I recall a rule of law by saying that we cannot refer the matter to the CSM if there is no proven serious misconduct. I am not saying: ‘Go to the disciplinary'”, opposed François Molins. Denouncing a “instrumentalization” of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, the senior official considered that the situation of conflict of interest of the minister had been “objectivized” both by the deportation decree taken on October 23 to Matignon and by the CSM report, finally seized by the Prime Minister, which cleared the magistrates.
Sitting behind the witness’s back, the “bubbling” minister, as he himself described himself in court, takes notes. Unlike previous days, he leaves his two lawyers in charge. He just grumbles or smiles from time to time. Invited to speak at the end of the day, the Minister of Justice begins: “From the start, Mr. Molins has given me a hard time. The number of press releases he has made, particularly to Agence France Presse, is as thick as that”he mimes at the bar.
“I don’t know who is the revenger of the two. He criticizes the budget. On penal overpopulation, I didn’t do well, nothing I did was done well.”
Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justicebefore the Court of Justice of the Republic
In a former lawyer’s pirouette, the defendant has “just one question to ask Mr. Molins” : why did he not attend the second inauguration of Emmanuel Macron in May 2022? “The only body that was missing was the judiciaryhe notes. I read in the press that he had back pain, it can happen to anyone, but why didn’t he ask Mr. Lagauche [avocat général à la Cour de cassation] to represent him?” François Molins stands up: “I did not send the attorney general, because these are ceremonies that cannot be delegated, we should not see this as a mark of disrespect”he sweeps away, confirming his back problems. “On the rest, I have ideas and I have the right to express them”, concludes the magistrate. The debates are scheduled to continue until November 16.