Over time, we can consider that Éric Dupond-Moretti has become one of the government’s heavyweights. Since his surprise appointment in July 2020, the Minister of Justice has served as a diligent student: he notably snatched a “historic” budget to “put an end to the clochardization of justice” and try to “ to move the lines of the judicial institution,” he told us in March 2023.
By offering the former bar star Place Vendôme, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, has achieved a nice political coup. But at the time, this choice caused some teeth-grinding among legal professionals. And four years later, a good number of judges, prosecutors and lawyers are looking critically at Éric Dupond-Moretti.
Relations between the minister and the magistrates have often been tense, not to say execrable. Quickly after his appointment, two unions (the Syndicate of the Magistrates and the Union Syndicale des Magistrates) criticized him for having taken advantage of his position to settle scores with magistrates with whom he had opposed himself as a lawyer. , and filed a complaint in December 2020 for “illegal taking of interests”. Accusations that the man nicknamed “Acquitator” experienced as a real declaration of war, claiming to be the victim of a real union plot. For him, these organizations would not have digested a lawyer becoming Minister of Justice. The case gave rise to an unprecedented trial before the Court of Justice of the Republic which ended last November with the acquittal of Éric Dupond-Moretti.
“Appeasement in exchanges”
“It was a very complicated period between the Minister of Justice and the magistrates, in particular the trade union organizations,” explains 20 minutes Kim Reuflet, president of the Magistrates’ Union. The fact that the trial passed made it possible to normalize relations with his office. There was a bit of calming down in the discussions. At least we talked to each other because before, we had difficulty doing so. »
But a new incident could revive these old resentments. Quite recently, on the sidelines of a trip to Marseille with Emmanuel Macron to launch the “Place Net XXL” anti-drug operations, magistrates said they had received “a blast” from the minister. His entourage slides 20 minutes that the Minister of Justice discussed “behind closed doors”, with them, “the difficulties they encounter” in the fight against organized crime. On this occasion, he also wanted to “deplore the remarks made before a parliamentary commission of inquiry unduly implicating certain agents of the Marseille court registry”.
“Whipping Father”
The case was poorly received by the magistrates. To the point that the Superior Council of the Judiciary got involved. This body, responsible for protecting the independence of justice, considered that this reframing was “likely to undermine” the separation of powers. “The minister regularly makes comments likely to undermine the independence of the judiciary,” repeats Kim Reuflet. He has nothing to say about what people say before the commission of inquiry, even if they are magistrates. This reframing is unacceptable. This shows that the minister is keen to control the words of the magistrates, it is a mark of this Minister of Justice. » According to her, “the magistrates also regret his lack of eagerness to defend the independence of justice when it is attacked by others, in particular by Gérald Darmanin”.
“It’s one thing for the minister not to be happy and to tell those concerned. That he does it this way, by putting himself on stage, is more embarrassing. This public reframing challenges us. We issued a press release to remind him that his role as minister was to support his troops above all else, and not to play whipping father,” he said. 20 minutes Ludovic Friat, president of the Union of Magistrates. However, he believes that “the war has not been rekindled with the minister”. Since the trial before the CJR, relations with Éric Dupond-Moretti “have become normalized”. “We are in a professional relationship, and there are things he does quite well. We need to have this relationship with the political level. »
A disappointment for criminal lawyers
Much more surprising, it is the prestigious Association of Criminal Lawyers (ADAP) which recently took up the pen to express its dissatisfaction with the former tenor. The reason ? Before the Senate commission of inquiry into the impact of drug trafficking, the minister described as “cheating” the act of a lawyer “exploiting [r] the Code of Criminal Procedure” to raise nullity proceedings. Comments which disappointed Me Romain Boulet, the co-president of ADAP. “He’s a guy for whom we all had boundless admiration. We can criticize the character he was. But you won’t find many colleagues who will tell you that he was a bad lawyer. We idolized him,” he explains to 20 minutes.
But, he insists, “raising procedural nullities is not cheating, it is the application of the law. Lawyers are only doing their job, and it is even their duty to raise procedural nullities. Is it a matter of saying that drug trafficking thrives in France because lawyers do their job? If so, it is false, absurd, legally inept. » For the members of the association he represents, it is “difficult” to “see someone who was a great criminal lawyer, a slayer of the abuses of justice, adopt anti-lawyer positions and more broadly contrary to the defense of fundamental principles “.
This is not the first time that criminal lawyers have expressed criticism of their former colleague. The black dresses also regretted, in January 2023, the generalization of departmental criminal courts. “He was an exceptional trial lawyer,” notes Me Romain Boulet. Yet. And as Keeper of the Seals, he comes to bury the assize court. It’s something where we don’t understand it. »