VSLet’s start with two factually indisputable situations. Julien Bayou, indirectly accused of psychological violence against a former companion, is forced to resign from the management of EELV because of the emotion aroused by “revelations” made by Sandrine Rousseau. Eric Dupond-Moretti and Alexis Kohler, both indicted for acts of illegal taking of interests, are not forced to resign, while they exercise sovereign missions.
This paralleling of different situations sends a disruptive message to the functioning of our democracy.
On the one hand, a leading political figure but without power over the destinies of the country, forced to draw the conclusions of the court from the opinion which condemns the way in which he would have behaved in his private life, without complaint or declaration of the victim “. On the other hand, political figures at the heart of the exercise of power spared from public and media pressure, even though the faults committed are in the exercise of their public mission and are the subject of prosecution by of Justice.
State fault without consequence
Thus, intimate issues would overwhelm political responsibility, when public fault seems without any consequence. Is it necessary to demand an exemplary private life to consider “the politician” worthy of his function, even though no judicial questioning is envisaged, while considering that the fault of the State committed by a public official would be without any political consequence?
Opposite the principle of the presumption of innocence would emerge a principle known as the “presumption of sincerity” of women victims of violence, which would impose itself on public officials forced to immediately draw the political consequences, when habituation to attacks on the probity of public officials would make the presumption of innocence a political shield.
This paradoxical situation is based on the claim of this new concept which questions its exact contours and the consequences that would result from it.
The presumption of innocence is affirmed by the most important international and national texts, and its infringement is sanctioned by article 9-1 of the Civil Code, which provides: “When a person is, before any conviction, publicly presented as being guilty of acts that are the subject of an investigation or a judicial investigation (…) », she can get compensation. She is not only the abstract statement of a principle, but also a set of rules intended to protect a ” accused “ against the risk of arbitrariness and to allow him to exercise his rights and freedoms until he is declared guilty or innocent by an independent and impartial tribunal.
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