(Washington) American justice examined Tuesday the appeal of a conservative association which wants to know more about the visa granted to Prince Harry although he admitted to having consumed drugs in the United States.
Far from the London court where the Duke of Sussex testified against the “hostility” of the press towards him, a federal judge in Washington devoted a hearing to a request filed by the Heritage Foundation, precisely in the name of “the interest medias “.
This very influential organization in conservative circles claims, under freedom of information laws, the immigration file of the prince who, at odds with the British royal family, settled in California in 2020 with his American wife Meghan Markle.
The youngest son of King Charles III “publicly admitted […] a number of drug offenses in the United States and abroad, ”she notes in her appeal. However, she adds, “US law normally renders such persons ineligible for entry” into the country.
The case concerns Prince Harry “but mainly concerns the Department of Homeland Security and its respect for the law”, pleaded his lawyer Samuel Dewey before Judge Carl Nichols. It is a subject that “is arousing very broad media interest”, he added.
The request does not violate the prince’s privacy since “he has spoken and written a lot” about his drug use, said Ms.e Dewey leaving court.
In his memoirs, published in January, the prince admitted to having used cannabis, psychotropic drugs and cocaine, in the United Kingdom, Lesotho and on American soil.
In 2002, “in someone’s country house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, I have taken a few others since”, he wrote in particular in “Le Suppléant “, where he also recounts having “swallowed” hallucinogenic mushrooms at a party in Los Angeles in 2016.
“Psychedelic drugs also did me a little good. I took it for fun for several years […] then for therapeutic, medical purposes”, he adds, presenting himself as a young “unhappy” ready to try everything to “change the status quo”.
However, the “Heritage Foundation” notes that other personalities, including footballer Maradona or singer Amy Winehouse, have been refused entry to American soil because of their drug use.
In particular, she wants to have access to the questionnaire to be completed to enter the United States, where each candidate must say if he has ever used drugs.
So far, she has faced refusals from three entities of the ministry, but has not yet had a response from headquarters.
While acknowledging that these documents “may be of some interest to the public”, the government considered that the American mainstream media had not looked into the legal status of the prince and that there was no urgency to act. .
After highly technical debates, Judge Carl Nichols asked the administration to see if the headquarters could make a decision or expedite the processing of the request by next Tuesday.
Otherwise, “I will make a decision”, he said, while emphasizing that it would not relate at this stage to the merits of the case, but to the need to speed up the examination of the request. of documents.