Has the French government underestimated the corona pandemic and thus endangered lives? This is the question before a Paris court, which has now initiated proceedings against the ex-health minister.
Investigations against the ex-health minister Agnès Buzyn have been opened in France because of possible misconduct in dealing with the corona pandemic.
There is a suspicion of “endangering the lives of others”, reported the AFP news agency on Friday evening, citing the public prosecutor’s office at the Court of Justice of the Republic. Buzyn, Minister of Health under President Emmanuel Macron from May 2017 to February 2020, was heard by judges of the court on Friday.
The current Minister of Health Olivier Véran could also soon be invited in the course of the extensive investigation. Around seven months before the presidential election in France, this is likely to cause unrest in the ruling party La République en Marche, to which both Buzyn and Véran belong.
The initiation of the proceedings against Buzyn means that the investigators see “serious or consistent evidence” of misconduct. The process can ultimately lead to criminal proceedings if investigators see sufficient evidence against the suspect. Otherwise, you can stop the proceedings again.
The background to this is the preliminary investigation not only against Buzyn, but also against her successor in office Véran and ex-Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, which began in July 2020. According to media reports, they are based on several lawsuits, for example by three doctors, a police union and relatives of a man who died of Covid-19. The allegations concern, among other things, the lack of masks and other protective equipment at the beginning of the pandemic.
According to a report in the newspaper «Le Monde», Buzyn’s case is also about statements she made on January 24, 2020. At the time, she said the risk of the coronavirus spreading to the population was very low. A few weeks later, in an interview with the newspaper, she rowed back: “Everything should have been stopped (…).” You informed the President of the situation on January 11th.
In October 2020 there were already house searches of Philippe, Véran and Buzyn themselves in connection with the investigation. In the course of the extensive investigation, Buzyn is the first public figure against whom formal proceedings have now been initiated. The Court of Justice of the Republic is the only court in France that can convict members of the government of criminal offenses or misconduct in the course of their business.
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