The case has changed scale.
The indictment of the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti is now a political issue.
An hour after the announcement of this unprecedented situation, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, hastened to let it be known that he renewed “
all his confidence
” in the Minister of Justice.
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Why Eric Dupond-Moretti should not leave the government if he is indicted
A short sentence which supports the position of the President of the Republic. Through the Council of Ministers and his advisers, Emmanuel Macron defends his Keeper of the Seals without blinking, affirming that there is no reason for the latter to resign. Legally, this is correct: nothing prevents the ministry from moving forward and the Keeper of the Seals from acting. In addition, the presumption of innocence is essential.
But, politically, we will have to hold out.
Already, Christian Jacob, president of LR, asks: “
Is it normal that there are double standards?
The President of the Republic must explain why François Bayrou was forced to resign from his post of Keeper of the Seals in forty-eight hours when he was not even indicted but only suspected, and why the Keeper of the Seals Dupond-Moretti is exempt from it even though he is being indicted.
The question arises all the more since, since the start of the five-year term, a dozen or so ministers have had trouble with the law
”.
Everything seemed to have already been prepared by the judges
Christophe Ingrain
In François Bayrou's entourage, it is said that “
it is with complete freedom and responsibility that François Bayrou and Marielle de Sarnez left the government in 2017. They had all the support of the president.
But François Bayrou considered that this situation could only have consequences on the serene exercise of the function of Keeper of the Seals.
It was four years ago, and he waited eighteen months before being indicted, without follow-up for the moment
”.
Questions prepared in advance by the judges
In the case of Eric Dupond-Moretti, justice has for once not dragged on. This is in any case the feeling of the lawyers of the Minister of Justice, now the first serving Minister of Justice to be indicted by the magistrates of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR). In this case, for illegal taking of interests and possible conflicts of interest with his former activities as a criminal lawyer. "
Everything seemed to have already been prepared by the judges,
" said Christophe Ingrain, one of his lawyers, after the first appearance hearing.
"Our arguments and elements were not taken into account"
, also reacted Olivier Cousi, president of Paris, other council of Eric Dupond-Moretti, at the end of this sequence of six hours.
The confrontation with the three magistrates of the investigating committee was obviously extremely formal, with questions prepared, answers noted and a report drawn up after a deliberation of one hour. The three judges, and especially the president of the instruction committee, thus made sure to avoid the fight with the swashbuckler Éric Dupond-Moretti. The facts concern the case of the fadettes and that of Judge Levrault, which was the subject of an administrative investigation while Éric Dupond-Moretti was in the file. Added to this is the legally complex issue of the deport decree of 23 October 2020, which gave authority to the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, to administer the affairs in which Eric Dupond-Moretti would have been involved before taking up his post. , as a lawyer.At the heart of the judges' concerns: the fact that the minister did not leave in time.
Facing the camera, President Cousi promised that
“the procedural fight”
would now
“start very quickly”
. Admittedly, the motion for nullity, for lack of serious and concordant elements justifying the indictment, will require a little redaction. The more rapid will be the request for documents in order to summon new witnesses. Starting with François Molins, Attorney General at the Court of Cassation. The latter would have given his opinion on the procedure to Véronique Malbec, chief of staff of the Minister of Justice, long before the question of a possible conflict of interest is raised and the magistracy is concerned.