This is unheard of under the Fifth Republic. From Monday, November 6 and for ten days, the current Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, will sit in the dock of a court. He appears for “illegal taking of interests”, within the framework of his functions. He faces five years of imprisonment, a fine of 500,000 euros, as well as an additional penalty of ineligibility and prohibition from holding public office. The hearing is held before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only authority authorized to judge members of the government for acts committed in the exercise of their functions. The proceedings will open at 2 p.m. at the Paris courthouse, before the 1st chamber of the Court of Appeal. Follow our live stream.
Two separate cases. Eric Dupond-Moretti is suspected of having used his position as Minister of Justice to settle scores with magistrates whom he had publicly criticized when he was a lawyer, in two cases. In one of them, he is accused of having ordered an administrative investigation against three magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) to determine possible individual faults, even though he had strongly criticized the decision. of the PNF, on the sidelines of the Bismuth affair, to go through the telephone bills of several lawyers, including himself, some time before being appointed minister. The other case concerns an administrative investigation carried out against Edouard Levrault, a judge seconded to Monaco, against whom Eric Dupond-Moretti had filed a complaint on behalf of a client for violation of the secrecy of the investigation.
He says he is innocent. Eric Dupond-Moretti says to himself “innocent” and repeats that he only followed “the recommendations” of his ministry by launching administrative investigations against the four magistrates. During the investigation, the former tenor of the bar, who has always maintained stormy relations with the magistrates, denounced an investigation “biased” aiming to “sullied the reputation of a former lawyer” and feed his case by “illegitimacy to occupy the functions of Keeper of the Seals”.
Still minister during the trial. For two weeks, Eric Dupond-Moretti will be a litigant and Minister of Justice at the same time. How will he manage his time? According to information collected by franceinfo, there will be adjustments: the Minister of Justice will, for example, be excused for the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, November 8. “He wants to maintain his activities as minister as much as possible during his trial,” one of his colleagues told franceinfo. It had been envisaged that Elisabeth Borne would act as interim, but this option was not retained because the minister “fought against this idea”, according to a Macronist. ll “has my full confidence”declared the Prime Minister, Monday morning, on France Inter.
Around twenty witnesses expected. Around twenty witnesses will take the stand, including former Prime Minister Jean Castex and former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet. The four magistrates targeted – and cleared after their disciplinary proceedings – will also be called to testify, trade unionists at the origin of the complaints against the minister and the former attorney general at the Court of Cassation François Molins. The latter has a particular role in this matter, since Eric Dupond-Moretti accuses him of a form of conflict of interest and affirms that he did not “never accepted [s]has been nominated”. All will be heard before fifteen judges: three magistrates of the Court of Cassation, six deputies and six senators from all sides.