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France’s Cour de Justice de la République Drops Case Against Philippe, Buzyn and Véran Over COVID-19 Response

The decision concludes a five-year inquiry after prosecutors agreed that the government’s pandemic measures precluded criminal offences

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L'ancienne ministre de la Santé Agnès Buzyn, en 2023.
La Cour de justice de la République a prononcé, lundi 7 juillet 2025, un non-lieu à l’encontre d’Édouard Philippe, Olivier Véran et Agnès Buzyn pour des plaintes concernant leur gestion de la crise sanitaire. (Photo Édouard Philippe et Olivier Véran lors d’une conférence de presse sur l’épidémie, en mai 2020)

Overview

  • On July 7, the CJR’s commission of instruction rendered a non-lieu, closing the probe into former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and ex-Health Ministers Agnès Buzyn and Olivier Véran without indictments.
  • The Parquet général had formally requested a non-lieu on May 21, effectively removing any prospect of a trial against the three officials.
  • The judicial inquiry opened in July 2020 examined charges of endangering lives and voluntary failure to combat a disaster in the early pandemic, following reports of mask shortages, election delays and crisis-center activation problems.
  • All three figures were placed under the status of témoin assisté rather than formally indicted, and Buzyn’s earlier indictment was annulled by the Cour de cassation in January 2023.
  • Prosecutors found that “de nombreuses initiatives” taken by the government to combat COVID-19 precluded criminal liability, and the CJR’s ruling will inform other pandemic-related investigations at the Paris public health tribunal.