Since March 24, the Paris public prosecutor's office has received 62 complaints from individuals or "professional collectives", that is to say, unions or associations, concerning the management of the coronavirus crisis.
These complaints, often against X, target four types of crime: endangering the lives of others, failure to assist a person in danger, voluntary abstention from fighting a dangerous incident, or even homicides and involuntary injuries.
Complaints concerning masks or protective clothing at work have been analyzed by the public health department of the Paris prosecutor's office.
In addition, three complaints for nursing homes received in Paris, Nanterre or Grasse, targeting establishments welcoming the elderly, have already been sent to the police.
In these circumstances, the public prosecutor Rémy Heitz decided to open a preliminary investigation into the management of the Covid-19 crisis.
"Establish a state of scientific knowledge"
"The Paris public prosecutor's office seized on June 8, 2020, the Central Office for the fight against damage to the environment and public health (OCLAESP) of a preliminary investigation", specifies the magistrate.
For the prosecutor, the fact of grouping these complaints according to the type of offense will allow a common documentary fund to be established on the state of scientific knowledge.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
"For this type of offense, he emphasizes, the Criminal Code clearly states that the responsibilities of decision-makers must be assessed in terms of the means and knowledge they had at the time of the decisions".
The objective of this judicial inquiry is therefore more to "establish the decision-making processes implemented during the health crisis in order to update any criminal offenses likely to have been committed" by national decision-makers.
"Probably unintentional faults"
"If there are criminal faults, they are very likely (it is an assumption) unintentional faults. However, the law sets precise conditions for establishing these crimes: it requires proof of a "qualified fault" which is not mere recklessness or negligence, "added the prosecutor.
In any event, this investigation will not concern either the Head of State (criminally irresponsible), or members of the government, whose responsibility falls to the Court of Justice of the Republic. Since the start of the crisis, no less than 55 proceedings have been brought to this jurisdiction, according to figures from 20 Minutes.
Some target Olivier Véran and Agnès Buzyn, others Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, but also Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet, Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner and his Secretary of State Laurent Nunez, or even the Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud.
