The former Prime Minister was heard on Tuesday October 18 by the Court of Justice of the Republic for his management of the Covid-19 epidemic. He was placed on assisted witness status.
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Edouard Philippe was placed under the status of witness assisted by the Court of Justice of the Republic which is investigating responsibilities in the management of the Covid-19 epidemic, learned franceinfo from sources close to the file, Saturday October 22. With this intermediate status, the former Prime Minister escapes an indictment. He is placed under the status of assisted witness for “endangering the lives of others” and “voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster”.
Edouard Philippe was heard on Tuesday October 18, almost a week ahead of the initial date of summons, Monday October 24, revealed at the time by the newspaper The world.
The former Prime Minister has obviously been able to convince the three magistrates of the CJR’s investigation commission not to put him on trial. In an interview at Parisian on October 8, he challenged “vigorously the incriminations which (him) are reproached”.
Contacted by franceinfo, neither Édouard Philippe, nor his entourage, nor his lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny wished to comment.
In this judicial investigation opened in July 2020, the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn was indicted for endangering the lives of others on September 10, 2021, and placed under the status of assisted witness for voluntary failure to fight a claim. In addition to Agnès Buzyn and Edouard Philippe, the former Minister of Health Olivier Véran is also targeted by this instruction on the government’s management of the Covid-19 epidemic led by the CJR, the only one empowered to prosecute and judge members of the governments for crimes or misdemeanors committed in the exercise of their functions. At this stage, Olivier Véran has not been heard by the CJR.