They accuse the Prime Minister and his former Minister of Health of not having acted in time to stem the epidemic of Covid-19 in France. Three doctors, representatives of a group of carers, filed a complaint Thursday against Edouard Philippe and Agnès Buzyn, according to their lawyer, Me Fabrice Di Vizio.
This complaint, which AFP was able to consult, was sent the same day to the complaints commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic. The CJR is the only body empowered in France to judge acts committed by members of the government in the exercise of their functions.
The three complainants - Philippe Naccache, Emmanuel Sarrazin and Ludovic Toro - seized the CJR on behalf of the recently created collective C19. They believe that the head of government and his minister "were aware of the danger and had the means of action, which they nevertheless chose not to exercise".
Earlier Decisions "Would Have Curbed The Epidemic"
They are based in particular on the declarations of Agnès Buzyn to the World, after the first round of the municipal elections, claiming to have alerted in January the Prime Minister on the gravity of the epidemic of coronavirus and to have warned him that "the elections could not probably not stand. "
The three complainants accuse Eouard Philippe and Agnès Buzyn, doctor by profession, of having "voluntarily refrained from taking or provoking measures allowing […] to combat a disaster likely to create a danger for the safety of persons", in the occurrence of the Covid-19 epidemic, which is punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
From March 13, the government took several measures, with the final result of the general confinement of the population, they stress. They believe that, if these decisions had been taken before, this "would undoubtedly have helped to curb the epidemic by reducing the number of people infected, and therefore people likely to infect others".
In the Oise, "no specific measures"
The three doctors particularly regret that, in Oise, one of the homes of Covid-19 in France, "no particular measure, other than the closure of schools", has been put in place.
Tuesday evening, Edouard Philippe tried to evacuate the controversy born of the words of Agnes Buzyn. "If we had not taken this health event seriously, I would not have organized a meeting in January" and "made heavy decisions," he said on France 2.
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"A few months ago, there were people who said" you are doing too much "or" you are not doing enough ". In a few months, some will say: "it should have been done differently". These controversies, I know them, I accept them, "he added.
Wednesday, the Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin assured that in February, the state did not know that the coronavirus epidemic was going to lead France to know the current situation. He stressed that no decision taken by the state had been "contrary to the choice of scientists".