Justice did not remain “absent” in the succession of events which led to the resignation of the mayor of Saint-Brévin Yannick Morez, under pressure from the far right, said Tuesday the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond -Moretti in the Senate.
Hearing by the law commission on the orientation bill of the ministry of justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti listed the measures taken since his arrival at the head of this ministry in order to better protect elected officials who are victims of aggression.
He cited in particular the law of August 2021 which establishes an offense of “revealing information relating to the private or professional life of an elected official”, or that of January 2023 which allows all associations of elected officials to become a civil party to support an elected victim of aggression.
“To attack a mayor is to attack the republic”, hammered Éric Dupond-Moretti, also detailing the criminal instructions of firmness sent three times to the prosecution.
“Unanswered” emails?
During his hearing on Wednesday before the same commission, Yannick Morez had however questioned a “flagrant” lack of support from the State, mentioning in particular a letter to the prosecutor which remained “unanswered”.
“Upon receipt of a letter from the mayor of Saint-Brevin to the Nantes prosecutor on February 15 (…), the Saint-Nazaire prosecutor informed the mayor’s chief of staff by telephone that this case fell within his territorial jurisdiction” , said Dupond-Moretti.
On February 27, the prosecutor of Saint-Nazaire then sent a letter to the mayor “telling him of his decision to open an investigation”, he added. On March 22, the date of the fire at Yannick Morez’s home, the same prosecutor “personally had the mayor on the telephone and communicated to him his personal telephone number”, he further specified, adding that the file of the fire was treated at the criminal center of Nantes.
Facts taken “very seriously”, according to Dupond-Moretti
“The local prosecutors have always been in contact with this threatened mayor and they have taken these facts very seriously by immediately opening investigations,” he concluded. Regarding the criminal response provided in this area, the Keeper of the Seals reported a “prosecution rate of 95%”.
“When the offense is characterized, that a perpetrator has been identified, 100% of the prosecutable defendants are the subject of a criminal response, in particular 92% in the form of a prosecution before the criminal court”, s is he congratulated, specifying that “it’s ten points more than for the other victims”. In 84% of convictions, a prison sentence was also pronounced, according to him.
