France’s justice minister goes on trial Monday on charges of using his office to settle personal scores, in an unprecedented case that has raised concern about checks and balances in French democracy.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti’s refusal to resign, or at least to step aside from his role overseeing France’s justice system during the trial, has drawn wide criticism.
Once a high-profile lawyer, Dupond-Moretti is accused of abusing his position as justice minister to order probes targeting magistrates who investigated him, his friends or his former clients.
He denies wrongdoing. He faces up to five years in prison and half a million euros in fines if convicted on charges of illegal conflict of interest.
The trial marks the first time in modern France that a government minister has been put on trial while still in office, according to legal historians. Until now, it was seen…
