Covid-19 management: three former government members, including Edouard Philippe, expected to be dismissed on Monday

A dismissal of charges against three former members of the government, including Edouard Philippe, is expected on Monday in the investigation conducted by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) into the handling of Covid-19, AFP learned from a source close to the case.

On May 21, a dismissal was requested in favor of the former Prime Minister (May 15, 2017-July 3, 2020), the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn (May 17, 2017–February 16, 2020) and her successor Olivier Véran (February 16, 2020–May 20, 2022), removing the prospect of a trial, even if it was up to the CJR's investigating commission to decide.

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The communication of his decision to the parties is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., according to the source close to the case.

The CJR is the only court empowered to prosecute and try members of the government – Prime Ministers, Ministers and Secretaries of State – for crimes and offences committed in the exercise of their functions.

This judicial investigation was opened in July 2020 for endangering the lives of others and willful failure to combat a disaster, following a series of complaints (doctors, patients, unions, etc.) which denounced poor anticipation by the government or late measures.

The three politicians are not being charged, but are being placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness. Ms. Buzyn's indictment for endangering the lives of others, issued in September 2021, was overturned by the Court of Cassation in January 2023.

Rémy Heitz, Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, who acts as the public prosecutor at the CJR, explained on May 21 that the investigations had established that "numerous initiatives (had) been taken by the government to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing the offense of willful abstention from combating a disaster from being established against Edouard Philippe and Olivier Véran."

And regarding Ms. Buzin, the public prosecutor noted that she left her post on February 16, 2020, "a date on which no incident within the meaning of the penal code had yet been characterized" in France, the first death of an infected patient having "occurred on February 25, 2020."