2024-08-31 18:08:45
The old lion has closed his eyes, the world of justice is coming in great mourning, and the clothes of the lawyers are blacker than ever. Henri Leclerc died at the age of 90, Saturday August 31 in Paris, after seventy years in prison and many years of heroic defense of freedoms. Mᵉ Leclerc was one of the last giants of his time, and when rumors spread, in courts or tribunals, that he would plead, colleagues, judges, students, wisely enter the room to learn from the old master. .
He stood there, with his kind smile, a heavy silhouette, confident in his sea clothes, with his white hair, warm, bold, friendly voice, which flowed like a river; Leclerc did not beg, he spoke, like a friend, he expressed his doubts, his convictions, his questions, with simple words and great good nature. We listen to him, we fall with him into emotion, and often into anger, against justice, against injustice. “Even in the most hostile environments, you manage to cover the room with your corners, with your whole body, physicallyIt was said by Thierry Lévy, another great lawyer, with cool style, who died in 2017. He said something to the judges: “This is a brave man! Whoever you’re defending can’t be that bad. “”
But the old lawyer also knows how to be intimidating, and his cross-examinations are merciless. He waits for the answer of the witness, the expert or the police, a report in hand, pulling on a branch of his glasses – he is well aware of this defense process which requires that a lawyer asks questions to which he knows the answer. The merciless man on the gridiron quickly became entangled in his contradictions, and the old lion delivered a great blow to him with his staff that left him trembling and bloodless, his testimony forever marred. Henri Leclerc would sit peacefully with a half-smile, waiting for the next one.
Young Henri first encountered the law at the age of 11, in October 1945, after great anger from his father, during the trial of Pierre Laval. The father, a tax official, hated the master who was behind the cooperation with Germany, but he was angry at the parody of the trial of the former head of government, who was shot after a suicide attempt. Press release from the Attorney General, “Mr. Laval’s days are no longer in danger”before they dragged him to the place where they were shooting him, they had arrested the little boy.
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