The Court of Justice of the Republic is the only one authorized to prosecute and judge members of the government. It is made up of three magistrates from the Court of Cassation, six deputies and six senators from all sides.
An unprecedented situation. From Monday November 6, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, will be judged by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), suspected of having abused his position as minister to settle scores linked to his past as a lawyer. Prosecuted for “illegal taking of interests”, the minister, who claims his innocence, faces five years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 euros, as well as an additional penalty of ineligibility and prohibition from holding office. public.
The CJR is the only one authorized to prosecute and judge members of the government – Prime Ministers, Ministers and Secretaries of State – for crimes and offenses committed in the exercise of their functions. It is a half-legal, half-political jurisdiction, made up of fifteen judges whose names are published in the Official Journal: three magistrates of the Court of Cassation, six deputies and six senators from all sides. Parliamentarians are elected by the National Assembly and the Senate after each general or partial renewal of the assemblies. The magistrates are elected by the Court of Cassation, the highest French judicial body.
A president accustomed to political-financial issues
In detail, the professional judges who will sit on Monday will be Ingrid Andrich, Sylvie Ménotti, and Dominique Pauthe, who has chaired the CJR since December 2019. The latter is used to political-financial cases: he successively chaired the trial relating to the Hauts-de-Seine HLM affair in 2005, the Clearstream trial in 2009, that of Jérôme Kerviel in 2010… It was also this magistrate who pronounced, in 2011, the conviction of Jacques Chirac in the jobs trial fictitious Paris town hall.
The list of elected deputies includes three elected from the presidential majority and three elected from the oppositions. They are Emilie Chandler (Renaissance), Didier Paris (Renaissance), Laurence Vichnievsky (MoDem), Philippe Gosselin (Les Républicains), Danièle Obono (La France insoumise) and Bruno Bilde (National Rally).
On the side of the senators, there will be two elected from the majority, and four from the opposition – UDI included, although this formation is likely to vote with the majority on a certain number of subjects. They are Catherine Di Folco (Les Républicains), Gilbert Favreau (Les Républicains), Jean-Luc Fichet (Socialist Party), Jean-Pierre Grand (Horizons), Thani Mohamed Soilihi (Renaissance) and Evelyne Perrot (Union of Democrats and independent).
A parliamentary judge promises “seriousness” and “independence”
In total, Eric Dupond-Moretti will therefore be judged by three professional magistrates, five elected representatives of the majority and seven elected representatives of the opposition. The presence of LFI raises eyebrows in the minister’s entourage, the rebellious Ugo Bernalicis having made a report – deemed inadmissible – against Eric Dupond-Moretti in this case.
Parliamentary judges are, however, supposed to examine cases submitted to them regardless of their political affiliation. Each of them took an oath before the assembly which elected them. “They swear and promise to fulfill their functions well and faithfully, to keep the secrecy of deliberations and votes and to conduct themselves in all things as worthy and loyal magistrates.” specifies the law. In response to doubts about the impartiality of these judges in the face of a minister-defendant whom they insult or support when they are in the hemicycle, one of them assures franceinfo that they will demonstrate “serious” and D’“independence”, “including when they are not in the same camp”.
The CJR decides by an absolute majority (i.e. eight judges out of fifteen) and by secret ballot on the guilt of the accused then, in the event of guilt, on the application of the sentence imposed, details the site vie-publique.fr. The CJR’s judgment may be appealed to the Court of Cassation. If the latter decides to overturn the decision, the CJR must be reconstituted before retrying the case.