Paris (AFP)
The highest magistrates of France recalled Monday, in a rare update, "the independence of justice" after the declarations of President Emmanuel Macron on the "need" for a trial in the case of Sarah Halimi, Jewish sexagenarian killed in 2017.
"The first president of the Court of Cassation and the Attorney General at this Court recall that the independence of the judiciary, of which the President of the Republic is the guarantor, is an essential condition for the functioning of democracy," say Chantal Arens and François Molins in a brief press release.
"The magistrates of the Court of Cassation must be able to examine with complete peace of mind and in complete independence the appeals before them", affirm the two highest magistrates of the country.
This severe development comes after the statements of the President of the Republic in Jerusalem Thursday, on the sidelines of the ceremonies for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
The head of state spoke at length about the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal which declared the suspect of the murder of Sarah Halimi, Jewish sexagenarian killed in 2017, criminally irresponsible, saying that "the need for a trial" was "there" .
While affirming that he could not openly comment on a court decision - "I cannot speak to you from the heart, because the president is the guarantor of the independence of the justice" - he spoke in detail on this case underway before the French community in Israel.
"An appeal in cassation was formulated and constitutes a possible way", indicated the president, stressing that the French justice had "recognized the anti-Semitic character of this crime".
If "criminal responsibility is a matter for the judges, the question of anti-Semitism is that of the Republic," he added. "Even if in the end the judge decides that the criminal responsibility is not there, the need for a trial is there."
- "Pressure" on the judges -
Justice, which described this crime as anti-Semitic, declared on December 19 the suspect criminally irresponsible, because this heavy consumer of cannabis was then in the grip of a "delirious puff".
The suspect, Kobili Traoré, had entered the home of his 65-year-old neighbor, Lucie Attal - also called Sarah Halimi - on the night of April 3 to 4, 2017, on the third floor of an HLM building in the popular Belleville district. At the cries of "Allah Akbar", the 27-year-old young Muslim had beaten his sixties before defenestering her.
Since then, a judicial showdown had begun, first on the anti-Semitic qualification of the murder that the examining magistrates had initially dismissed, then on the criminal responsibility of Kobili Traore.
The head of state's remarks shocked the magistrates, several union representatives expressing their "dismay".
"We are scandalized by these remarks. It is not the first time that he speaks on this affair. He had regretted that the justice had not retained the anti-Semitic character of the affair. It was already a intervention problematic ", declared to the AFP the president of the Union of the magistrature (SM), Katia Dubreuil.
"It is particularly problematic in this case, which arouses a legitimate emotion. It can be difficult in this case to understand the legal reasoning, the fundamental principles of justice according to which one cannot condemn a person irresponsible for his acts", she explained.
"The president stirs up the misunderstandings, gives an assessment which constitutes additional pressure for the judges who are going to have to look into this case", she regretted.
Joined by AFP Monday evening, the suspect's lawyer, Mr. Thomas Bidnic, deemed the "development" of the Court of Cassation "absolutely necessary".
"The statements by the President of the Republic have at least created the appearance of pressure on the Court of Cassation," he said. "This casts doubt on the president's desire to influence the Court of Cassation. Or is it useless and why say it? Or it is useful and it is a problem."
© 2020 AFP