Mayor of Arcachon sentenced to €5,000 fine for violence against his opponent
Yves Foulon, mayor of Arcachon, has been sentenced by Bordeaux tribunal to €5,000 in fines for threats and violence against Vital Baude.
Yves Foulon sentenced for threats and violence against his electoral rival
The Bordeaux criminal court condemned Yves Foulon, mayor of Arcachon (Gironde), on Thursday 20 August to a fine of €10,000 — of which €5,000 is suspended — for threats and violence against his principal opponent in the last municipal elections, Vital Baude. According to franceinfo - Justice, the mayor also received a €30 fine for insults and must pay €2,500 to the victim in compensation for the harm suffered.
The sentence handed down falls short of the prosecution's requests, which had sought four months in prison with suspension at the beginning of July.
A video published two days after the incident
The incident dates back to 15 March, during the first round of municipal elections. Filmed without his knowledge, Yves Foulon had heavily insulted Vital Baude, 50, his ecologist opponent, calling him notably a "son of a bitch", a "bastard" and "shit". The online media outlet Vakita made the video public two days later.
The mayor held a grudge against his opponent for having circulated during the campaign a photo of the construction site of his house, built on the site of a heritage villa that Foulon had demolished. In this recording, he had also told him: "If I could corner you behind the bins, it would please me to give you a beating", before adding: "I'm going to do everything to screw you and I'm going to find something (...) in your personal life." The judge characterised these remarks as threats to "seriously and repeatedly undermine the living conditions of Mr. Baude".
Physical contact recognised by the court
Vital Baude accused Yves Foulon of having pushed him and of having laid hands on his chin. The mayor denied these allegations at the hearing. The judge nevertheless found that the video showed "physical contact with sufficient force to cause a backwards movement".
Divergent reactions after the verdict
Absent when the verdict was delivered, Yves Foulon did not react publicly. His lawyer, Benoît Ducos-Ader, described the decision as a "conciliatory judgment" that seemed to him to "prevent an appeal". "I think everyone will leave it at that and that will be a good thing", he told the press.
Vital Baude, for his part, did not rule out appealing. He questioned a case that could set "national precedent", deploring that "the chief magistrate of a town" could "allow himself to insult, to threaten, to behave violently (...) and have no prison sentence with suspension, retain his post and all the prerogatives and means of retaliation that come with it".
Source: franceinfo - Justice