Paris (AFP)
Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet on Sunday criticized the "unworthy" and "unacceptable" remarks of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and denied any instrumentalization of justice, in response to the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) who again put it at issue by considering himself the victim of a "political trial".
Mr. Mélenchon must appear Thursday and Friday with five relatives in Bobigny for the incidents that sparked this search of October 2018, conducted as part of an investigation into suspicions of fictitious jobs in the European Parliament and the accounts of the presidential campaign of 2017.
In an interview published today by the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), he accused the court of leading a "war" with this "political trial", accusing Ms. Belloubet of "repeated" lies and reproaching her for failure to investigate breaches of the secrecy of the investigation in this case.
"The words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon are absurd, they are even unworthy (...) in that they attack the magistrates and in that they question and their probity and independence," said Ms. Belloubet at Grand Jury-RTL-Le Figaro, without wishing to comment on the manner in which the searches were conducted in this case.
As for the LFI leader's statement that justice is preparing its "political murder", they say it is "unacceptable" because "justice is not used for political purposes".
"It seems to me that Jean-Luc Mélenchon" is "in the invective", "in the fantasy", "in the plot," she added. "I know that conspiracy is something that is sadly shared nowadays, but in any case it is not (...) what I want for our democracy".
"Jaurès said: + You have to have the courage to look for the truth and say it + This is what the magistrates do and what I want to do next to them," she added. "I think Jean-Luc Mélenchon is doing the opposite of that, he is insinuating, invective, he is in this idea of the plot and I really think it's a serious mistake."
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