Riom Trial

The Riom Trial (French: Procès de Riom; 19 February 1942 – 21 May 1943) was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic (1870–1940) had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940. The trial was held in the city of Riom in central France, and had mainly political aims – namely to project the responsibility of defeat onto the leaders of the left-wing Popular Front government that had been elected 3 May 1936.

The Supreme Court of Justice (Cour suprême de justice), created by a decree issued by Pétain on 30 July 1940, was empowered to judge:

1^o Les ministres, les anciens ministres ou leurs subordonnés immédiats, civils et militaires, accusés d'avoir commis des crimes ou délits dans l'exercice ou à l'occasion de leurs fonctions, ou d'avoir trahi les devoirs de leur charge;
2^o Toute personne accusée d'attentat contre la sûreté de l’État et de crimes et délits connexes;
3^o Tout coauteur ou complice des personnes visées aux paragraphes précédents.

1st, the ministers, the former ministers, civil and military, accused of having committed crimes or délits while exercising their duties or on the occasion thereof, or of having betrayed the duties of their offices;
2nd, every person accused of having attacked the security of the state and of connected crimes or délits;
3nd, every co-perpetrator or accomplice of the persons targeted by the above paragraphs.

The period examined by the court was from 1936 (the beginning of the Popular Front administration, under Léon Blum) to 1940 and Paul Reynaud's cabinet. The trial, supported by the Nazis, had the secondary aim of demonstrating that the responsibility of the war rested with France (which had officially declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, two days after the invasion of Poland) and not with Adolf Hitler and his policies. Once started in February 1942, the trial did not go according to plan. The defendants were largely successful in rebutting the charges, and won sympathetic coverage in the international press. The trial was eventually suspended in March 1942, and formally abandoned in May 1943.