They accuse Agnès Buzyn, former Minister of Health, and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe of not having taken the necessary measures to stem the scourge of Covid-19, even though they knew the dangers of this epidemic.
Three founding doctors of a collective named C 19, bringing together 600 practitioners to date, lodged a complaint Thursday and seized the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only body empowered to judge acts committed by members of the government in the exercise of their functions.
They thus hope that the public authorities will make the necessary means available today, but also in the future, to prevent other epidemics. Specialist in health matters, Me Fabrice Di Vizio, their lawyer, explains their approach.
How was this collective created and for what purpose?
FABRICE DI VIZIO. It started with informal exchanges around the epidemic situation at the end of February, on forums and social networks. They were 6 or 7, then 15, 30, 60 ... Today, this is exploding and it is the translation of a general anger of the caregivers. They gradually realized that they lacked everything to properly care for people and especially to prevent the spread of the virus. "The masks are coming," the government told them in late February, and they believed it. At the beginning of March, when they understood that they would not have the masks, we started telling them that they did not need them… It is in reality an admission of helplessness and a lie, because the truth is, we didn't have stocks! It was then that we went to court for the first time.
What did you do then?
We seized the administrative court in summary procedure, March 4. The case was not yet heard that the government reconsidered its position and promised the supply - effective this time - of the masks. These eventually arrived, but in a few places, and drop by drop. The caregivers' anger was all the greater since they discovered that a French company produces masks ... but on behalf of the British Ministry of Health, which ordered before France!
Why today file a criminal complaint, and on what elements is it based?
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The comments made by Agnès Buzyn in Le Monde on March 17 had the effect of a bomb and feed our complaint. In essence, she explains that she knew everything and did nothing. She also says that she warned the government of the imminence and the seriousness of the danger. What until then could still pass for incompetence is, if one believes his words, for pure unconsciousness. It is even more serious and it shows us that there has been a state lie. A criminal investigation is now essential to know the extent of the information that has been hidden from the French and determine the responsibilities of each in this health fiasco. It takes a series of measures, including that the servers of the department be searched, to find out what really was exchanged between services.
It would be unprecedented ...
In reality it would be a very classic investigation, entrusted to the judicial police. Only the protagonists change, but the texts provide that they can be heard. Ministers are justiciables like the others, only the jurisdiction which judges them changes. In the tainted blood scandal, we did not hesitate to question the Minister of Health at the time, Bernard Kouchner. Our complaint is now in the hands of the Complaints Commission, which acts as a filter like a prosecution. It can file, or transmit to the investigating commission, which will investigate, I have no doubt, a criminal investigation just as an examining magistrate would.
What do Agnès Buzyn and Édouard Philippe potentially incur?
We are targeting article 223-7 of the penal code, according to which “whoever voluntarily refrains from taking or provoking measures allowing, without risk for him or for third parties, to combat a disaster likely to create a danger for the personal safety is punished by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros ”. We consider that the intentional element, essential to characterize the offense - it is the “willfully” of the text - is there. “On January 11, I sent a message to the president about the situation. On January 30, I warned Édouard Philippe that the elections could probably not be held, ”said Agnes Buzyn herself. With her career, this brilliant woman, former president of the High Authority for Health (HAS) could not fail to know ... What is all the more incomprehensible, are the public words she held on January 24, when she said that "the risk of spreading the coronavirus in the population [was] very low".
Concretely, what should these doctors have done and when?
It would have been essential to build up protective stocks (masks, gowns, glasses, gloves, etc.) and to buy tests in large quantities as early as January 30, when the World Health Organization (WHO) qualified the international public health emergency epidemic. It would then have been necessary to follow the recommendations of the same WHO, that is to say to carry out systematic screening. This technique makes it possible to identify and isolate asymptomatic people - there is one patient for five healthy carriers, according to several studies. It was successfully done in South Korea and should have been a model for Europe.
What do you hope to cause with this complaint?
For the current crisis, make our leaders aware that we must now act transparently. For the future, exemplary sanctions so that this never happens again. Without conviction, this would be tantamount to considering that all these deaths - present and future - will have been useless.