“There is no government of judges,” says the president of the Union of Magistrates

“We must give the judge a power of appreciation, he applies criminal law,” recalled Ludovic Friat, president of the Union of Magistrates, on Thursday.

“There is no government of judges, judges apply the law passed by our parliamentarians”, said Thursday, November 14 on franceinfo Ludovic Friat, president of the Union of Magistrates (USM). He reacts to political reactions after the requisitions of the prosecution, which calls for a sentence of ineligibility for all the defendants, including Marine Le Pen, in the trial of the parliamentary assistants of the National Front, now National Rally.

While Jordan Bardella denounces an “attack on democracy” and Bruno Gollnisch a political trial, Ludovic Friat believes that “to say it like this is to give material to those who think and say that we would have a government of judges”. If he admits that judges are human beings, with “their part of subjectivity”the president of the USM recalls that these biases are “provided for by the judicial system”. “The prosecution works as a team, the colleagues of the prosecution, who took these requisitions, took them after having discussed with their prosecutor and the entire prosecution team to find the right requisition”, explained Ludovic Friat. “The same goes for colleagues at headquarters, they decide collectively, together, to avoid bias”he adds.

Ludovic Friat “regret” what “this collegiality is increasingly under attack”. This Thursday on franceinfo Bruno Gollnisch, former number 2 of the RN who also risks five years of ineligibility, said “amazed and indignant”believing that if Marine Le Pen “were prevented from standing for the French vote this would transform France into a banana republic”. “What I hear in Bruno Gollnisch’s words is a plea, he is in his role”reacts Ludovic Friat. He recalls that his union, the USM, is “the first magistrates' union”, a union “partisan” which is not in favor of automatic penalties, such as ineligibility penalties. “We must give the judge a power of appreciation, he applies the criminal law, the Sapin 2 law which provides that in the event of guilt this sentence is automatic and this was voted very widely by our deputies and senators”he insists.