MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 5 helpful for the discovery of the truth”. They added that during their visit to Djibouti a few days before, they had been accompanied by two experts, including the director of the Paris Institute of Forensic Medicine, adding that the scene had been filmed and photographed on that occasion. 22. The applicant and another lawyer appealed against that decision. They filed their pleadings with the Indictments Division, as did the lawyer acting for the Syndicat de la magistrature, arguing that the last site visit in the presence of an expert could be regarded as a reconstruction from which the civil parties had been excluded, and that the sole aim of the investigation was to demonstrate that the victim had committed suicide. They also requested that the Indictments Division take over the case from the investigating judges and continue the investigation itself. 23. In a judgment of 21 June 2000, the Indictments Division of the Paris Court of Appeal found that after two site visits in the absence of the civil parties, one of which closely resembled a reconstruction, the need to organise an on-site reconstruction in the presence of the civil parties so that they could exercise their rights was indispensable for the discovery of the truth. Accordingly, it set aside the decision of Judges M. and L.L. on that point. In addition, it withdrew the case from them and appointed a new investigating judge, Judge P., to continue the investigation. 24. On 19 June 2007 the Paris public prosecutor, further to the request of the investigating judge then handling the case, on the basis of Article 11, paragraph 3, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, issued a statement to clarify publicly that “whilst suicide had once been the preferred theory, the evidence gathered, especially since 2002, now point[ed] to a criminal act”, adding that the experts’ reports had determined that “Bernard Borrel was lying on the ground when liquids were poured over him in a random manner”. 25. The proceedings are currently still pending. B. Facts related to the “Scientology” case 26. The Minister of Justice, by acts of 29 June and 16 October 2000, referred to the National Legal Service Commission (Conseil supérieur de la magistrature – “the CSM”), in its capacity as a disciplinary board for judges, certain shortcomings attributable to Judge M. in the judicial investigation into the “Scientology” case for which she was responsible and in which the applicant also represented the civil parties. Judge M. was criticised for not devoting the necessary care and attention to the case file, leaving it practically untouched for five years; for having recourse to a friendly-settlement procedure which went beyond the jurisdiction of an investigating judge; and for not making copies of all the documents in the case file, thus making it impossible to reconstruct the file after its partial disappearance from her chambers. Judge M. requested that the referral to