A special tribunal on Wednesday ruled that French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti did not abuse his current position to settle scores with opponents from his career as a top lawyer.
A pugnacious orator, Dupond-Moretti was alleged to have failed to step back sufficiently from a case against a magistrate with whom he had sparred while a lawyer.
The Cour de Justice de la Republique, a special tribunal for government officials, said Dupond-Moretti was in a position of conflict of interest but criminal intent was not established, and it cleared him of the charges.
Dupond-Moretti had remained in office during the investigation and trial but a guilty verdict would have put pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, who swept to power in 2017 promising to clean up politics, to fire his minister.
Dupond-Moretti, who denied any wrongdoing during the trial, left the court without making any comment. His lawyers said the ruling "ends years of [the minister] being falsely accused."
Other allegations centered on a lawsuit he filed against the office of the financial prosecutor, or PNF, shortly before taking up his ministerial post, accusing the PNF of invading his privacy by obtaining his phone records during a probe into alleged corruption by former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The hard-left political party France Insoumise, France Unbowed, criticized the acquittal, saying it showed that the special tribunal, presided over by judges and lawmakers, should be scrapped.
Jerome Karsenti, a lawyer for the anti-corruption association Anticor, said the special court was too lenient with those in power.
Since its creation in 1993, the Cour de Justice de la Republique has held nine formal trials, including Dupond-Moretti's.
Past defendants have included former finance minister and current head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde. In 2016, she was found guilty of negligence over a government payout. She escaped punishment and kept her job at the IMF.
