Before entering the courtroom, please put on hydroalcoholic gel, announce hostesses. Wearing a mask is highly recommended. And on the benches, it is imperative to maintain a "safety distance" of one meter with its neighbor. Strange resumption of the Mediator trial, this Tuesday, June 2 before the Paris Criminal Court, with many “barrier gestures”. An abundance of medical precautions, while here we judge a suspected case of large-scale health scam ...
Interrupted since mid-March, the trial of the Mediator and Servier laboratories, which had started on September 23, is resuming its pace as a senator. A lawyer demanded the dismissal, on the grounds that "the continuation of the trial endangered the health of the lawyers, the defendants and the victims", but he was not followed by the court. "So much the better. We especially want the trial to finally end. We have been waiting for this outcome for ten years, we do not want it to be delayed once again, "sighs Elisa Boussinot, civil party, whose mother died at 51 years, in 2004, of a valve disease (heart valve disease) after taking Mediator. More than 500 deaths are suspected to be attributable to this treatment, sold massively for decades.
A sick and stranded defendant in Morocco
From next week, the pleadings can begin. The Servier laboratories, which marketed the Mediator between 1976 and 2009, will have a lot to do. They are accused of having hidden from the health authorities that it was in fact a dangerous appetite suppressant, capable of causing heart disease, and not a simple anti-diabetic, as specified in its instructions. Colossal fines could be requested. The Medicines Agency is also on the dock for failing to meet its vigilance obligations.
The end of the trial, unless there is a final twist, is set for July 6. But the judgment will not be known "before 2021", warned the president. "It's been a really long time to wait," said Elisa Boussinot. From the start, everything has helped delay it. This was still the case at the hearing on Tuesday. While he was to appear in the "influence peddling" component, Professor Claude Griscelli, former director of Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Research), paid by Servier, said that he was sick and stuck in Morocco.
PODCAST. Mediator: "I want Servier to close"
"Air links are closed with this country, its presence is impossible, as evidenced by a letter from the director of Air France," said his lawyer. "Servier still believes himself in the world before, where you could get away with your relationships ... But it's all over. They did not understand anything, ”carried away Charles Joseph-Oudin, who advises more than 200 civil parties. "Stop seeing Servier plots everywhere. I am not the one looking after the airspace! "Retorts him dryly one of the lawyers of the laboratory, Me Hervé Temime. Wearing a mask does not prevent crossing the iron.