Paris (AFP)

He is one of the most famous lawyers in France, known for his outspokenness but also his virulence towards the magistrates: Eric Dupond-Moretti, the tenor of the bars nicknamed "acquittator", was appointed Monday Keeper of the Seals, a surprise appointments from this government.

"Methods of barbouzes!": At the end of June, the lawyer got carried away, with his usual verve against the national financial parquet (PNF) which pared his detailed telephone bills ("fadettes"), like those of several other lawyers, to try to identify a "mole" in the so-called "eavesdropping" affair.

He is a lawyer known for "his big mouth", who launched into the theater in 2019, who succeeds the calm and discreet Nicole Belloubet. He arrives at Place Vendôme six months after a historic strike by lawyers against the pension reform.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, 59, began his career in Douai in 1984. Over 30 years of career and more than 120 acquittals, which earned him the nickname "acquittator". He succeeded in acquitting Roselyne Godard, the baker of Outreau, Jacques Viguier, an academic accused of the murder of his wife or Jean Castela, accused of having ordered the assassination of the prefect Erignac.

His name has appeared in many major trials in recent years. He was the lawyer for Patrick Balkany and Jérôme Cahuzac. In 2020, he joined the international defense team of Julian Assange.

In 2017, it was his defense of Mohamed Merah's brother, Abdelkader, who had unleashed passions.

"This is the most difficult trial of my career. I took it in the face, I was insulted. It was said that I was the shame of the profession, we threatened my children". But it was "an honor for me" to defend it, he said.

- Blow for blow -

He also explained that he was not there for morals but for the law and affirmed that he could have defended "the Hitler man" if he had asked him to, but "provided that he did not justify the Nazi ideology" .

In the courtroom he strikes back at his opponents. He used his intimidating physical presence to put pressure on certain prosecution witnesses. In moments of extreme tension, nothing and no one seems to be able to stop him in the defense of his client.

The appointment of this tenor on Place Vendôme, who had taken very hard positions against the magistrates, is a surprise. It had so far always been classified on the left and had supported at least in private Martine Aubry in the primary of 2011. This media lawyer, in couple with the popular Canadian singer Isabelle Boulay, was to make a morning chronicle on Europe 1 at the start of the school year .

"This appointment is a gesture of appeasement towards lawyers," welcomed AFP Christiane Féral-Schuhl, president of the National Bar Council which represents 70,000 French lawyers. "Lawyers expect strong political acts, a minister who supports them, who knows what it is to be a lawyer. Eric Dupond-Moretti embodies that", for the president of the CNB.

"Since Robert Badinter, no judicial lawyer had been appointed Keeper of the Seals," noted Estellia Araez, president of the Syndicat des Avocats de France (SAF, left). "It is a good omen that a colleague who has always defended freedoms, orality, the place of the lawyer in the trial and who participated in the fight against pension reform is appointed Keeper of the Seals", a- she added.

On the other hand, Lucille Rouet, national secretary of the Magistrates' Union (SM, left), said that she was "challenged by this signal". "We are wondering a bit about his latest statements on the PNF and on certain magistrates," said the magistrate, who hopes that he "will be keen to reconcile the judicial actors", lawyers and magistrates.

© 2020 AFP