France’s Cour de justice de la République on 7 July cleared former prime minister Édouard Philippe and former health ministers Agnès Buzyn and Olivier Véran of criminal allegations over their management of the Covid-19 outbreak, issuing a general non-lieu that ends all proceedings against them. The ruling closes a five-year investigation opened in July 2020 after hundreds of complaints from doctors, patients and unions accused the government of endangering lives and failing to act against the public health ‘sinistre’. Throughout the inquiry the three officials were interviewed as assisted witnesses and were never formally indicted. Prosecutor-general Rémy Heitz said the commission of instruction followed his 20 May recommendation, concluding that the officials had taken “numerous initiatives” to fight the pandemic and that penal law does not punish public-policy choices. Buzyn’s 2021 indictment, annulled by the Court of Cassation in 2023, was also dismissed. Victims’ associations denounced the decision and indicated they may pursue civil remedies. A separate investigation into pandemic-related offences against unknown persons remains open at the Paris public-health unit. Santé publique France estimates 168,000 people died of Covid-19 in the country between 2020 and September 2023.