Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice, was acquitted this Wednesday by the Court of Justice of the Republic, at the end of his trial for “illegal taking of interests”.
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The Court of Justice of the Republic, on Wednesday November 29, acquitted the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, who was on trial for illegal taking of interests. The judges, the majority of whom were parliamentarians (12 judges out of 15), did not follow the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested a one-year suspended prison sentence. With this release, the former tenor of the bar “will be able to continue to carry out its action” within the government, declared Elisabeth Borne on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The announcement of this acquittal provoked numerous political reactions: the deputies of La France insoumise notably called for the suppression of the CJR, which they consider to be a “systematically biased inter-jurisdiction”. However, this is not the first time that a minister has been acquitted by this Court of Justice, which has been criticized for many years.
Trials long after the facts
From the first trial of the CJR in 1999, the court acquitted Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister, who was being prosecuted for “involuntary manslaughter” in the contaminated blood affair. If we go back through the trials, since the creation of the CJR 30 years ago, the Court of Justice of the Republic has judged nine ministers, including Eric Dupond-Moretti, and three secretaries of state. She pronounced five acquittals, seven convictions, including two with exemption from sentence.
But this is the first time that a minister has been tried while he is still in office. Most of the time, trials take place long after the fact. This is also a recurring criticism of the Court of Justice of the Republic: for example, Edouard Balladur was acquitted in 2021 in the case of the hidden financing of his 1995 presidential campaign, that is to say 25 years earlier! Another example: Charles Pasqua was sentenced in 2010 to a one-year suspended prison sentence, for acts dating back to when he was Minister of the Interior between 1993 and 1995.
Accusations of two-tiered justice
The Court of Justice of the Republic is not only criticized for its slowness of action, but also for its functioning. Because it is partly made up of elected officials, six deputies and six senators, with only three magistrates, its detractors consider that it is a jurisdiction where politicians judge each other.
Some also see it as two-tiered justice: if ministers are judged before the CJR, their advisors are judged by ordinary courts, which would imply different treatment. Because the decisions of the CJR are considered too lenient, because it has never sentenced people to prison, for example. It has also been discussed several times to eliminate it. François Hollande had promised it in 2012, a promise taken up by Emmanuel Macron, but their constitutional reforms could not succeed.
The Court of Justice of the Republic therefore continues, with new cases to be investigated when it is referred to it. For example, she has been working for three years on managing the Covid-19 health crisis, after complaints were filed concerning the lack of equipment or even hesitation over whether or not it was necessary to wear masks.