This decision is final. The Attorney General of the Court of Cassation, Rémy Heitz, announced Monday that he would not appeal against the acquittal of the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti for illegal taking of interests.
“In my capacity as prosecutor general, I will not file an appeal in cassation against this decision to acquit,” Mr. Heitz declared on France info, believing that it would be complicated to “re-establish such a trial” and that it would be had to “move towards appeasement”.
“Move on”
After an unprecedented trial, the Court of Justice of the Republic considered that the minister had indeed 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 “intentional” element. In his indictment in mid-November, Rémy Heitz requested a “fair and significant” sentence of one year in prison, suspended.
He estimated Monday morning that it would be complicated to re-establish such a trial. “We would have 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 insisted. “Secondly, I think we must move towards appeasement. We must move on very clearly, the minister said he wanted to turn the page. These are also the considerations which prevailed as far as I am concerned,” he added. Asked by AFP, the entourage of the Minister of Justice did not wish to comment.
Before the CJR, the Minister of Justice, 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”, having more than just one goal, “to succeed in one’s ministry”. The rest, he insisted, “I don’t care.”