An impossible trial: French justice minister tried in a court where his judges are fellow politicians
France's justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti is due to stand trial this November over an alleged “unlawful conflict of interest”. He will appear before the Cour de Justice de la République (CJR), France's special court reserved for ministers being tried over acts they carried out as part of their official duties. Mediapart has spoken to judges, legal experts and politicians who are concerned about the nature of a trial in which the country's justice minister will confront prosecutors who are answerable to him in the workplace … and in a courtroom where most of those judging him are politicians. Fabrice Arfi and Michel Deléan report.
TheThe trial of France's justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti for an “unlawful conflict of interest” is due to take place from November 6th to November 17th at the Cour de Justice de la République (CJR). But is the trial itself undermined by its own conflicts of interest before it has even begun? Several judges, legal experts and politicians have told Mediapart they believe so as, for the first time in France's political and legal history, a serving justice minister prepares to put aside his government work to take his place on the defendant's bench.
