Jacques Serais // Photo credit: THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
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8:13 a.m., November 30, 2023
After ten days of trial, the Court of Justice of the Republic finally decided to release Éric Dupond-Moretti. The Minister of Justice was suspected of illegal taking of interests. From now on, the lawyer wishes to “turn the page (…) and resume the course of my work”. But this legal battle will leave an indelible mark.
Éric Dupond-Moretti therefore remains Keeper of the Seals. The Court of Justice of the Republic acquitted the Minister of Justice this Wednesday, after 10 days of trial for suspicion of illegal taking of interests. For the judges, Eric Dupond-Moretti never wanted revenge on four magistrates with whom he had had disagreements during his career as a lawyer. Invited on the France 2 set Wednesday evening, the lawyer savors his judgment. Relaxed, the Minister of Justice found himself cleared of the accusations brought against him.
“I want to turn the page, even if it was something painful. And I want to resume the ordinary course of my work. This is the reason why I stayed after the decision at the Élysée Palace to meet the President of the Republic,” he explained.
“I have never been at war with anyone”
Turn the page, even if we will have to work again with the same people who placed Éric Dupond-Moretti in the dock. “I was appointed in July 2020. We worked a lot. It was also done in consultation with my official interlocutors, including the attorney general, the first president, the conferences of heads of court, heads of jurisdiction and even, you see, the unions who filed a complaint against me. I have never been at war with anyone,” assures the Minister of Justice.
The fact remains that this acquittal has a bitter taste for the accusation. The prosecutor general of the Court of Cassation is studying the decision in detail before ruling on a possible appeal to the Court of Cassation by Tuesday.