French prosecutor urges suspended prison sentence for justice minister
The French public prosecutor facing Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti at the special Republican Court of Justice (CJR) have asked judges to find him guilty of using his position to settle personal scores, and to hand him a one-year suspended prison sentence.
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Dupond-Moretti has been charged with influence peddling, and stands accused of taking advantage of his position as justice minister to try to sanction four magistrates who investigated either himself, his former clients or his friends.
He has denied both the charge of conflict of interest and the idea that he had any scores to settle with anyone, and repeated this in court.
The CJR is a special court set up to judge members of the government for crimes and offences committed while in office.
The maximum sentence for the charges is five years in prison, and a ban on holding public office.
Dupond-Moretti, who became justice minister in July 2020, is the first serving minister to appear before the CJR.
Public prosecutor Remy Heitz said he would leave it to the court to determine whether he should be allowed to continue to serve as a minister.
Dupond-Moretti had planned to skip a court date to attend a minister’s council, but ended up attended all the hearings this week, only stepping out a few times to take calls or sign documents.
(with newswires)
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