A complicated communication between the world of the judiciary and Éric Dupond-Moretti.
The former attorney general at the Court of Cassation, François Molins, expressed his “major incomprehension” on Wednesday after the reproaches made to magistrates by the Minister of Justice on the sidelines of an anti-drug trip to Marseille.
He reacted to the minister's refocusing during the trip with President Emmanuel Macron last week to launch the “XXL” anti-drug operation carried out in Marseille.
“Irreproachable” magistrates
“I would like to express all my admiration for these magistrates”, “committed on a daily basis” and “who have told you the truth with great lucidity in the fight they wage on a daily basis”, “they appear to me to be perfectly irreproachable”, declared François Molins as a preamble to his hearing in the Senate before the Commission of Inquiry into the impact of drug trafficking in France.
In front of the com.
investigation by the @Senate on drug trafficking, @francois_molins says his "incomprehension regarding the behavior of the Minister of Justice in Marseille (...) which consists of reproaching magistrates for having told the truth in front of emanations of the national representation ".
pic.twitter.com/NVL5MIcTcr
— Pierre de Cossette (@Pdecossette) March 27, 2024
He then expressed "a major incomprehension regarding the behavior of the Keeper of the Seals in Marseille, faced with this raising of the bar as some have called it, which seems to me to be the antithesis of the office of a Keeper of the Seals who is supposed to support justice, defend one’s independence.”
Behavior criticized
Magistrates on site told the newspaper Le Figaro that they had been “in a state of astonishment” and had “taken a blow” from Éric Dupond-Moretti, furious at comments made before the senatorial commission.
“I fear that we are losing the war against traffickers in Marseille,” Isabelle Couderc, the investigating judge from the crime division of the court, said in early March.
On Wednesday, François Molins considered that “it is not appropriate to have this type of behavior which consists of reproaching magistrates for having told the truth in front of emanations of the Nation and national representation”.
“The magistrates are not there to support or justify the political speeches of one or the other, whether it is the majority or the opposition,” he added.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) will “soon” receive the heads of the Marseille judicial court after the criticisms made by the minister.