The former magistrate Laurence Vichnievsky is now mp (MoDem) of the Puy-de-Dome and the vice-president of the Law commission of the national Assembly. She has had to deal with sensitive cases, including those of the Elf affair, the frigates of Taiwan, or the funding of the French communist Party. If she refuses to rule on the merits of the new case of hacking around Nicolas Sarkozy, she is alert to the need to strengthen the independence of the powers.
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The Point : as a former magistrate and current vice-president of the Law commission of the national Assembly, do you consider normal that an investigation has been carried out on the judges of the PNF and lawyers, with a legal framework that is clearly questionable ?
I do not know the items in the folder and I am not going to give you my personal opinion on the matter. That being said, I do not see the state of procedural irregularity according to the published elements, one can simply see that it is very thorough. In contrast, I find that this can give the impression of wanting to go in one direction, which is never good for justice. To lift this suspicion troubled times, there is only one way to do : appoint attorneys as judges. My concern is that each branch of government properly plays its role, in particular of counter-power.
The Parquet national financier is a tool that has demonstrated its effectiveness in a general way
It never ceases to measure the limits of the Parquet national financier in recent times, should it dissolve ?
I don’t think. I am one of those people who think that when we chop them up the floor, it weakens it. It is sometimes necessary to have centralized tools and specialized, the prosecutor’s themes are more effective, we can see it clearly on the issues of terrorism. The Parquet national financier is a tool that has demonstrated its effectiveness in a general way, there will always be records that are highly technical that require very specialized skills. The two cases to which you refer are not very complex on the criminal level, it was above all the impression that these are political currents that compete in these folders.
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Do you like Éric Dupond-Moretti that it is methods barbouzardes ?
I am committed to the separation of powers, I don’t have to pronounce myself on business, current or made. Also I would like to say not, even if, once again, procedurally, I do not see anything irregular. I leave work justice without seeking to influence it.
You yourself have been a magistrate in financial department of the court of Paris, where you have, with Eva Joly, investigating the case Elf… have you ever felt pressure from the political power ?
No, I was a judge of the seat or of instruction, and I’ve never had instructions. It was able to feel the media pressure in high, with of the journalists who slept almost in front of our doors. When the stakes are heavy, each one defends itself very strong. It was finished off with body guards and a heavy atmosphere. Each party’s interest necessarily near to this folder, but try to defend themselves does not in itself constitute an attempt to influence.
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What does it do ?
It’s necessary to change things, doubt is awful. Even if there are more individual instructions, one has the feeling that the three powers are not sufficiently separated. The institutional reform was to give more independence to the public prosecution, in particular by the game of the appointments, but it is necessary in my opinion to go further and stretch the link between the chancellery and the floors. I think that we could consider doing so by strengthening the authority of the attorney general of the Court of cassation. That there is a hierarchical control it is normal, we can’t imagine that every attorney chooses the criminal policy that it wants to lead. It should be in my opinion to detach the prosecutor general’s office of the keeper of the Seals and place all of the prosecutors under the authority of the attorney general of the Court of cassation, which could render accounts to Parliament every year.
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