“This trial is the trial of his life,” claimed his lawyer Jacqueline Laffont. He won it. The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, tried for illegal taking of interests, was acquitted this Wednesday, November 29 by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) after a three-year procedure and a trial ten days. The judges of the CJR, the majority of whom were parliamentarians, did not follow the requisitions of the prosecution which had requested a one-year suspended prison sentence.
The Minister of Justice was accused of wanting to settle personal scores by opening administrative investigations into magistrates with whom he had conflicts when he was a lawyer. With this decision, everyone breathes: Eric Dupond-Moretti can stay at Place Vendôme, Macronie avoids a political crisis in the middle of examining the immigration bill. “The Minister of Justice will be able to continue to carry out his work within the government team, in the service of the French. I am delighted,” reacted on (formerly Twitter) Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
Eric Dupond-Moretti was waiting for this trial as much as he feared it. The thirst to cleanse one’s honor, on the one hand. The fear of a conviction, on the other. “It pisses him off,” a minister recently confided. “He’s a guy who has pride. He carries this pride over his shoulder.” His only pride was not at stake. Elisabeth Borne had ruled out in October the possibility that he would remain in the government in the event of conviction, under case law applied to Minister Alain Griset in 2021. “There was no need to say that before. Formalizing in people’s heads that he could be condemned was frankly not useful”, regretted a minister close to Borne at the time. The head of government preferred to work towards transparency, in an era of distrust of public speech.
Elisabeth Borne is “rejoiced”
The acquittal clears the political horizon of Eric Dupond-Moretti, received this Wednesday, November 29 by Emmanuel Macron. The man has taken a liking to politics since his appointment in 2020, between strong interventions in the National Assembly and a candidacy for the 2021 regional elections. He boasts a historic increase in the justice budget, from 6.9 billion dinars. euros in 2017 to 10.1 billion in 2024. The majority breathe a sigh of relief. This release protects her from a dangerous soap opera. “This waiting period was not easy to manage for him and the parliamentarians,” notes the vice-president of the Assembly Naïma Moutchou. “We can finally turn the page.” “He suffered attacks and the worst slander. He resisted and was cleared,” adds Renaissance MP Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade.
A relaxation, but at what price? The decision relaunches the debate on the existence of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), a body made up of three professional magistrates and twelve parliamentarians from all sides. The left implicitly questions the legitimacy of this declaration of not guilty. “Parliamentarians judging a minister, this brings back the image of the inter-personal,” said Arthur Delaporte, spokesperson for the PS deputies, estimating that “Eric Dupond-Moretti should have resigned from its functions”.
It is “an arm of honor to the idea of justice”, added LFI deputy Ugo Bernalicis, proof according to him that the CJR “serves no purpose other than to exonerate ministers”. He asked the Prosecutor’s Office to “seize the Court of Cassation”, the only avenue of appeal, due to the lack of an appeal procedure before this jurisdiction. “The good big seum of LFI (Editor’s note: spite in slang), laughs a Renaissance MP. For that alone, we are happy that he stays.”
The Dussopt case
The case could also leave traces in the legal world. This dispute brought together the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation Rémy Heitz and a union of magistrates. “This trial was a handicap for justice as a whole, assures L’Express the president of the Law Commission Sacha Houlié. The highest personalities of the legal world clashed. All this can bring discredit to the judicial authority .” These fish live in the same tank, they will have to relearn how to swim together.
The executive’s legal torments are finally not over. Ten months of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros were requested this Wednesday against Olivier Dussopt. The Minister of Labor has been on trial since Monday for suspicion of favoritism in a public market in 2009, when he was mayor of Annonay (Ardèche). “Olivier is much more affected than Eric, it’s really hard for him,” notes a member of the government. In the event of conviction, the former socialist will have to comply with the rule laid down by Elisabeth Borne. And probably leave his post.
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