Hillion beach, here invaded by green algae in 2019. -

M. Pavard / 20 Minutes

  • The horse had died in green algae in 2009 on a beach in Saint-Michel-en-Grève, in the Côtes d'Armor.

    His unconscious rider had been saved thanks to witnesses.

  • A dismissal "in the absence of sufficient charges" was rendered in January: two Breton associations, Safeguarding Trégor and Halte aux marées verte, appealed to continue the investigation.

  • They point to "the paradox between the recognition by the judges of the serious consequences on public health of the production of hydrogen sulphide from the rotting of stranded green algae, and the alleged impossibility of identifying the culprits of the excess nitrates which are at the end of the line. 'origin'.

They are calling for the investigation to continue.

Saturday, two Breton associations appealed against the dismissal rendered in January after the death of a horse in green algae in 2009. The animal died on the spot and its rider was found unconscious on a beach in Saint-Michel -en-Grève, in the Côtes d'Armor.

Vincent Petit had been saved thanks to witnesses.

His horse had died suddenly.

On January 18, the courts dismissed the case "in the absence of sufficient charges".

The magistrates of the public health pole of the Paris judicial court had explained the difficulty in bringing together the elements to characterize criminal offenses, in order to be able to "relate with certainty the damage to the commission of a precise and identified fault".

"Nitrates do not have an identity card allowing their origin to be known"

A decision strongly criticized and misunderstood by the associations Safeguarding Trégor and Halte aux tides verte, which appealed against the case.

"This decision appears as a guarantee given to water pollution in Brittany and as such constituting a denial of justice", they believe.

They point to "the paradox between the recognition by the judges of the serious consequences on public health of the production of hydrogen sulphide from the rotting of stranded green algae, and the alleged impossibility of identifying the culprits of the excess nitrates which are at the end of the line. 'origin'.

In their order, the judges had noted "the inadequacy of the current penal law to ecological disasters that can constitute the phenomena of green tides" as well as "the inertia of the French public authorities".

"Nitrates do not have an identity card allowing their origin to be known", they added.

In 2014, the Nantes administrative court of appeal recognized for the first time the State's responsibility for the health consequences of the proliferation of green algae on the coast, "because of its shortcomings to be sufficiently implemented. effective national and European rules ”on the protection of water“ against pollution of agricultural origin ”,“ which are the main cause of green tides ”.

Media

Does the Breton food industry want to gag the press?

Planet

Green algae: "We make fun of the world", tackles a mayor of the bay of Saint-Brieuc

  • Pesticides

  • Nitrates

  • Justice

  • Agriculture

  • Reindeer

  • Environment

  • Green algae

  • Planet