The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, acquitted on Wednesday by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), expressed his “relief” on France 2 and repeated that he now wanted to “turn the page” after his unprecedented trial for illegal taking of ‘interests. “I want to turn the page, even if it was something painful, and I want to return to the ordinary course of my work,” declared the Minister of Justice, guest of the television news.
“I accepted being insulted for three years. I never responded. And why didn’t I respond? (…) To preserve the ministerial function. And I did well to do so” , also declared the minister. “It’s good that I was not forced to resign because I am innocent tonight. And I would like people to remember that,” he also said. In its decision, the CJR considered that the Minister of Justice, “by ordering” in 2020, as minister, administrative investigations against four magistrates “whom he had publicly criticized” when he was still a lawyer, had done well found in an “objective situation of conflict of interest”.
“We are not going to repeat the match”
But she considered that there was no “intentional” element, and that he should therefore be acquitted. The prosecution, which had requested a one-year suspended prison sentence against him, is “studying in detail” the decision before deciding on a possible appeal to the Supreme Court by Tuesday, according to a source close to the case. Asked about the voices which were raised, among anti-corruption associations or his political opponents, to denounce a “political” decision, Eric Dupond-Moretti brushed aside: “we are not going to repeat the match”.
But he said he was certain of being able to continue to work calmly with the magistrates, including the unions, at the origin of the complaint against him. “I told you that the page has been turned, I have never been at war with anyone,” he insisted. At the Élysée, where he went immediately after his acquittal, “we spoke with the President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron) about the projects in progress, and in particular how we hire the magistrates and clerks who will arrive and the projects to come,” he assured.