(JTA) — A Lyon lawyer petitioned the French city’s civil court to disqualify a judge because he is Jewish.
Alexis Dubruel asked the court last month to remove Albert Levy from the bench in a case involving her client and a man named Moises, the French version of Moses or Moshe. The French daily Liberation published her letter on its news site.
Dubruel based her petition, which has not yet been answered, on Article 668 of the French penal code stating that a judge will be disqualified if “circumstances strong enough exist to suspect the judge’s impartiality.”
The circumstances are paternal and familial, Dubruel said.
"The judge and my client have a patrimonial connection evident in their names. The judge in question is named Levy: The ‘papa’ of the person name Moises," the lawyer wrote, referring to the fact that the biblical Moses was from the tribe of Levy.
Dubruel enclosed printouts of the Wikipedia pages on the Levites and Moses to support her argument, according to Liberation.
The client Dubruel represents is a grandmother seeking visiting privileges with her grandchildren, her daughter’s children who live with their father, Moises.
The head of the Lyon office of the French bar association, Philippe Meysonnier, said he was “outraged” by the petition. Liberation reported that unspecified members of the bar are considering asking the bar to initiate disciplinary action against Dubruel.
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