There will be a trial for the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti, already indicted for suspicion of illegal taking of interests. The Court of Justice of the Republic ordered his referral to this jurisdiction. He is accused of having initiated administrative investigations when he was a minister against magistrates with whom he was in conflict before, when he was a lawyer. How exactly does this jurisdiction work?
The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) is the only one that can try members of the government, whether ministers, prime ministers or secretaries of state, for crimes and misdemeanors they have committed in the exercise of their functions. It is made up of twelve parliamentarians, six senators and six deputies, and three professional magistrates, including one who chairs the CJR.
To seize it, the first step is to file a complaint with the complaints commission. Anyone who claims to be wronged by a crime or misdemeanor committed by a member of the government can do so. If the complaint is deemed admissible, it is forwarded to a second commission, this time called the investigating commission. It is she who will then decide whether to dismiss the case or to sue.
The Court of Justice of the Republic was created in 1993, after the tainted blood affair. In the 1980s, several thousand bags of blood contaminated with the AIDS virus were transfused to people with haemophilia, without taking any precautions. A health, political and financial scandal which had led to the creation of the CJR, before which the Prime Minister at the time Laurent Fabius was judged, alongside the Minister of Health Edmond Hervé and the Minister of Social Affairs and National Solidarity Georgina Dufoix. At the time, the creation of this Court was to respond to the controversies over the impunity of members of the government.
Today, the CJR is often the target of criticism. First, because it establishes a kind of exceptional justice. For the same facts, a member of the government and an ordinary citizen will sometimes be judged differently. This is what François Molins, the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, denounces in particular.
The composition of the CJR is also criticized. It is a half-judicial, half-political institution, since it is made up of both magistrates and parliamentarians. It is therefore political personalities who judge others. Finally, the CJR is accused of slowness in its procedures and too much leniency in its decisions. In 30 years of existence, it has thus pronounced only four suspended sentences, four acquittals and two waivers of sentence.
This court is therefore in the sights of Emmanuel Macron, who had promised to abolish it during his first term. This abolition is also what the report issued by the Estates General of Justice in July 2022 recommends. But this decision is difficult to apply, because an abolition of the CJR requires a modification of the Constitution, which is a long and complex process. .