The former Minister of Health is under investigation for “endangering the lives of others” and placed under the status of witness for “voluntary abstention from taking measures to combat a disaster”. Other ministers will follow.
The indictment of the former Minister of Health by the Court of Justice of the Republic, this Friday, September 10, 2021, resounds like a real thunderclap in the political landernau. For, after Agnès Buzyn, it is the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the current Minister of Health Olivier Véran and the former government spokesperson, Sibeth Ndiaye, who should follow.
In addition to the ministers whose judicial fate is in the hands of the CJR, other personalities should be held accountable, including the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, since four judicial inquiries have been opened after hundreds of complaints were filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office.
About fifteen admissible complaints
The CJR opened an investigation in July 2020 after receiving several thousand complaints, of which only 15 or so were deemed admissible. The investigations were entrusted to the Office central de lutte contre les atteintes à l’environnement et à la santé publique (Oclaesp) of the national gendarmerie.
The complainants accuse the government of not having taken the measure of the gravity of the health crisis and of having lied, in particular, on the utility of the masks whereas it knew that it did not have any.
Hence the investigation of the heads “voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster” which is worth Agnes Buzyn to be placed under the status of assisted witness, and “endangering the lives of others” which is worth his indictment.
“The risk is zero”
It is known that Agnès Buzyn then Minister of Health, abandoned her post, on Sunday, February 16, 2020, to embark on the campaign for the municipal elections in Paris.
After her failure in the polls, she told the press that this election was “a masquerade” and said: “I knew that the tsunami wave was ahead of us. She even warned, she says, from January 11, 2020 Edouard Philippe and Emmanuel Macron of the impossibility of organizing the municipal elections.
However, Agnès Buzyn is a doctor. At that time when the epidemic was beginning to take its toll, the government spoke of “flu”, assured that the masks were useless and let the elections take place.
The former Minister of Health, however, stated on January 21, 2020, that “the risk of introduction in France [of the virus] was low”. She added: “Our health system is well prepared, health professionals and institutions have been informed”. On January 24: “The risk of importation from Wuhan is moderate. It is now practically zero since the city, as you know, is isolated.
We know the rest…
A political and health scandal
Searches were conducted on October 15, 2020 as part of the investigation of the CJR, targeting Edouard Philippe, Agnès Buzyn, Olivier Véran, Sibeth Ndiaye. The summons of Agnès Buzyn, this Friday, is only the logical continuation of the investigation.
Before being heard by the magistrates of the CJR, this morning, Agnès Buzyn declared to the press: “Today is an excellent opportunity for me to explain myself and to restore the truth of the facts.”
After her very long hearing, visibly stunned she specified: “I will not let the government’s action, my action as a minister, be sullied when we have done so much to prepare our country for a global health crisis that, I remind you, is still going on.”
The fact remains that this affair comes at a bad time for the government, which is being accused of a lack of preparation, an absence of strategy, errors and lies in the management of the health crisis. The fact that the President of the Republic has organized this management around a Defense Council whose decisions are by definition secret, is not the least of the anomalies.