Two couples of "yellow vests" living in the Alpes de Haute Provence have been indicted for "criminal association" after a series of sabotage on the highway, telephone or energy networks in the Southeast, a indicated Friday the parquet floor. The two men aged 51 and 25, and a 54-year-old woman, were detained while a 20-year-old pregnant woman was placed under judicial supervision. All claimed to be "yellow vests".
The degraded optical fiber network
The team is initially suspected of having made an anonymous call on 21 December 2018 to operators of the A51 motorway, threatening to "blind" the network and its security devices in the Alpes de Haute Provence . In January and February, they are suspected of having made the act, degrading the optical fiber network in several points. This action has made "temporarily unusable public goods but also prevented for several hours the use of the highway," said the prosecutor of the Republic of Digne-les-Bains, Stéphane Kellenberger. He noted an "immediate risk to safety", "the call terminals, communications and information boards being inactivated".
Residents deprived of telephone or electricity
The investigators then reconciled with seven other facts in the region, concerning facilities of EDF, Orange or Engie, between January and April 13. "These facts deprived communes and residents of telephony, network and electricity for several hours, they undermined the emergency and security services," said the prosecutor who had opened a criminal investigation on 15 March. "The oldest couple have recognized most of the facts, and the youngest couple has only acknowledged their participation in some of them," said the magistrate. In addition to the criminal conspiracy, they are notably prosecuted for destruction, damage and serious deterioration, or endangering the lives of others.