The decision of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) in the case against Eric Dupond-Moretti is final. The Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Rémy Heitz, announced Monday December 4 that he “would not file an appeal” against the acquittal of the Minister of Justice for illegal taking of interests. Mr. Heitz said it would be complicated to re-establish such a trial.
“It would be necessary to convene a new Court of Justice of the Republic, it would be an extremely cumbersome procedure, with a result which would [ultimately] surely be uncertain,” he said. Secondly, I think we need to move towards appeasement. We must move on, very clearly, the minister said he wanted to turn the page. It is also these considerations which prevailed as far as I am concerned. »
At the end of an unprecedented trial, the CJR, made up of twelve parliamentarians and magistrates, estimated on Wednesday that Mr. Dupond-Moretti had placed himself in a situation of conflict of interest by opening administrative investigations against four magistrates whom he had criticized when he was a lawyer, but that he could not be found guilty, due to lack of an “intentional” element.
New calls for the removal of the CJR
In his indictment in mid-November, Mr. Heitz requested a “just and meaningful” sentence of one year in prison, suspended. The prosecution had expressed its “conviction” of Mr. Dupond-Moretti’s guilt. He ignored the “alerts” and “crossed a line that he should never have crossed,” the attorney general argued.
“The CJR must be abolished”, reacted on X the “rebellious” MP Ugo Bernalicis. “The inspection of justice should not depend on the minister,” added the parliamentarian. Asked by Agence France-Presse, the entourage of the Minister of Justice did not wish to comment. “I want to turn the page, even if it was something painful, and I want to resume the ordinary course of my work,” the Minister of Justice told the France 2 newspaper on the evening of the decision. He added: “It’s good that I wasn’t forced to resign because I’m innocent tonight. And I would like us to remember that. »
Before the CJR, the minister, who remained in office during the ten days of trial where he defended himself tooth and nail, never stopped swearing that he had left his old differences with the magistrates far “behind him” and had not only one goal, “to succeed in one’s ministry.” The rest, he said, “I don’t care.” The ex-tenor of the bar, aged 62, had expressed undisguised exasperation in the face of the accusation: he had complained throughout the hearing of “leading” questions, that “everything [ was] dependent.”
