Former French Health Minister Agnese Buzina was charged on Friday with her management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Buzina is accused of “endangering other people’s lives”, but she has not been charged with the second possible offense – “not stopping the disaster”, the Republican court prosecutor said.
The former doctor, Buzina, who will be able to appeal the accusation, was present at the court hearing on Friday and said he welcomed “a great opportunity to explain and find out the truth”.
She said she would “not discredit the actions of the government or mine as ministers when we did so much to prepare our country for the ongoing global health crisis.”
The accusation of Buzina is a blow to President Emanuel Macron, whose actions in managing this health crisis will be given special attention in the election campaign next year.
Buzina resigned as health minister in February last year, a few weeks after the first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in France. She has been criticized and ridiculed for her initial statements about Covid-19.
Buzina announced in January 2020 that “there is virtually no risk” to import Covid-19 into France from the Chinese city of Wuhan. She later said that “the risk of the coronavirus spreading among the population is very low”.
A month after she resigned as a minister to run for the Paris mayoral election, Buzina said “the tsunami has not yet arrived.”
Buzina, a cancer and transplant specialist, later claimed in a parliamentary inquiry that he had warned President Macron and then Prime Minister Eduard Philip in January about the potential “dangers” of Covid-19.
The Republican Court was established in 1993 to try ministers to improve their accountability for their actions. Prior to that, it was believed that members of the Cabinet of Ministers were able to avoid legal persecution for their actions.
An investigation is also under way against former Prime Minister Philip and current Health Minister Olivier Verana.
Buzina has left politics and took office in January in the office of Tedros Adhanom Gebreiesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO chief has also been criticized for his response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
–
