The trial of Eric Dupond-Moretti, tried for illegal taking of interests, will be held from November 6 to 17

We now know the date of his trial. The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, will be tried for illegal taking of interests from November 6 to 17, the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation announced in a press release on Thursday September 14. It is the first time that a member of a government in office will be the subject of a trial before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only body authorized to judge him.

Eric Dupond-Moretti is suspected of having used his position as minister to settle scores with magistrates with whom he had had disagreements when he was a lawyer. The minister is notably accused of having launched an administrative investigation against three magistrates from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), who had gone through his telephone records when he was a lawyer, in connection with the Bismuth affair.

The Court of Cassation had already validated on July 28 the referral of the Minister of Justice to the Court of Justice of the Republic, without specifying the date of his trial. “It is difficult to see how a minister in office could continue to exercise this supreme function even though he is going to be judged by his peers,” asked Jérôme Karsenti, lawyer for the Anticor association.