Complaints related to Covid-19: in France, the hour of accounts has struck

After the hospitals, the courts are overwhelmed by the Covid-19. Fewer patients to be resuscitated but still more complainants determined to obtain justice. Across France, more than a hundred criminal complaints have already been registered for "involuntary homicides or injuries", "endangering the lives of others" or "voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster". These accusations come from the families of deceased loved ones, mayors, unions and associations. 

"The telephone keeps ringing," explains the switchboard of the association Victim of coronavirus Covid-19 France (AVCCD). We have been collecting testimonies from victims by the dozen for the past few days, communication and word-of-mouth ear work very well, we comment in the young association which has already collected 60 testimonies which will also be the subject of complaints and legal action. And we are only at the beginning ! " 

Thank you @ IHU_Marseille @raoult_didier @BrouquiPhilippe @ChabriereEric our call was heard 🙏 for all patients with # Covid_19 with persistent #symptomes weeks and months after being infected with the virus. These patients need us, you. https://t.co/2wH5UR1SV2

An "extraordinary" trial

Faced with this influx, the Paris prosecutor, Rémy Heitz, announced on June 8 the opening of a vast preliminary investigation into the criticized management of the Covid-19 crisis in France. In addition to this investigation, there is the work of hearings conducted by parliamentarians within the framework of the commission of inquiry on the management of the health crisis.  

At this stage, these investigations constitute only a first judicial response. But "the resulting trial promises to be out of the ordinary, exceptional", assures France 24 Me Hervé Banbanaste, the lawyer who defends the victims of the Association of victims for assistance and compensation of Covid-19 ( Avaic19). "This is the first time that complaints have been filed while the crisis is in full swing," said the Paris prosecutor who apprehends "considerable" work and a "historic situation". Until then, "in major public health cases (contaminated blood, asbestos ...), justice has intervened well after the fact." 

The trial could also "take between five and seven years," said Fabrice Di Vizio, the lawyer mandated by the C19 Collective and AVCCD France, in another interview with our editorial staff. "But it is important that this trial be long, because in this case, we must understand the implications and the responsibilities of each actor in the health chain. It is a real painstaking work that must now be carried out. it is at this price that we will get the truth. "

💬 "The objective is to obtain compensation for the damage": an association of Covid-19 patients will be launched in Lyon, explains Me Hervé Banbanaste, lawyer for several victims of the coronavirus pic.twitter.com/DaJHJuarzy

Complaints against Ehpad 

Filed, most often against X, the complaints are directed at members of the government as well as those in charge of administration, notably the Director General of Health: Jérôme Salomon, on the front line of the media during the epidemic in France. Are also targeted, pell-mell, Public Health France, Regional Health Agencies (ARS), the Order of pharmacists or the prison administration.  

>> To read: The coronavirus in Ehpad (1/3): "It is no longer work but survival"

But it was the Ehpad who were the first to be singled out. It should be remembered that these accommodation for dependent elderly people paid a heavy price for the coronavirus: 9,738 residents died there. More than a third of the total French victims. A first preliminary investigation was opened by the Nanterre prosecution, after the filing of a complaint by the family of the resident of an Ehpad de Chaville (Hauts-de-Seine) who died on March 25. Then a second in Grasse, April 2. And faced with the multiplication of complaints filed against these establishments, families gathered in an association called Collectif 9 471… in reference to the number of deaths recorded in the Ehpad on May 5, 2020, the day of the association's creation. 

>> To read: Faced with the coronavirus, initiatives are multiplying to help the Ehpad

"Honoring [memory]"

Among the complainants are also relatives of professionals, such as the widow of Ali Djemoui. Doctor practicing in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), in the Paris suburbs, this 59-year-old general practitioner died on April 2 after having consulted nearly 1,400 patients in one month, at the rate of sixty per day, six days a week with makeshift means. "As of the end of February, the state claimed that general practitioners were not in contact with Covid patients. However, Dr. Djemoui was mobilized with patients who were coughing," says Di Vizio. "Between late February and mid-March, general practitioners were denied the masks they needed." And the lawyer to continue, "the Order of pharmacists also did not give instructions to import masks, he abstained. It would have been necessary that the public authorities trigger phase 3 at the end of the month of February".

Since then, the wife of the deceased and mother of four intends to take her husband's fight to justice. It calls into question the responsibility of the State and that of the General Directorate of Health, the ARS but also the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists. "I am waiting for the justice system to recognize the State's fault for not having been able to protect my husband," says Ms. Djemoui to France 24. "I do it to honor his memory and his profession, which he adored."  

The wrath of professionals who demand evidence

His case is not isolated. The Medical Association estimates that around thirty liberal practitioners have died in France. General practitioners criticize the Minister of Health for having betrayed his promise to equip them with FFP2 masks. This is why around thirty doctors gathered with the C19 Collective have also seized the Court of Justice of the Republic. They question the reality of orders placed by the authorities to obtain means of protection for carers and demand proof. 

Still in the medical field, the Collectif Inter-Blocs, also filed a complaint on May 25 against the 32 hospitals in France. Working with simple surgical masks, they again denounce the shortage of FFP2 masks, intended for resuscitation personnel, and point to the responsibility of the State.  

"According to testimonies collected on the spot, the management seems to assume and considers that the FFP2 are not necessary. We, we ask to apply the principle of precaution, it is in the labor code” @ DIVIZIO1 # plaintecovid @ Toulouseinfoshttps: //t.co/kcRgaAkoHG

The medical professions are not the only ones to step up to the plate. The union SCP-Police-FO unit announced, on April 6, 2020, its intention to file a complaint against X for endangering the lives of others. The union is associated with the approach of the General Federation of Civil Servants-Labor Force. They consider that they were part of the "first curtain" and therefore were not sufficiently protected by their hierarchy.  

The municipal in question

Others, finally, file a complaint against the state for having maintained the first round of municipal elections. Chafia Zehmoul, unlabeled candidate in Saint-Fons (Rhône), in the suburbs of Lyon, is the first elected official to have brought proceedings against the government. "I got into the campaign 200%, I shook hands, kissed people. And then the day after the election, I didn't hear from any of my team members, says 51-year-old elected official at France 24. I learned that they had been hospitalized. Two of them died, and two of their relatives are too. I was shocked. " Since then, with her running mates and activists, the elected official has created Avaic19, to "accompany the victims of the coronavirus and obtain them compensation."

"All these complaints filed have nothing political, concludes Mr. Fabrice Di Vizio, who represents a large part of the victims. And it is not a question of falling into a popular trial. It is only a question of seeking the truth and don't leave the victims on the bottom of the door. " 

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