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" The expectation of speaking, of understanding is strong. The court knows it ": ten years after the wave of suicides at France Telecom, the trial of the company and its former leaders, including his former boss Didier Lombard, tried for" moral harassment ", opened Monday in front of the Paris Criminal Court.
If it were necessary to retain an image of this first day of hearing, it would be that of the defendants in single file, hands behind the back, turned to the court, Didier Lombard in front. Former executives of one of the largest French companies have listened to the facts they are accused of: the establishment of " a corporate policy to destabilize employees and create a professional climate anxiety ."
" An extraordinary qualification, unprecedented, " said President Cécile Louis-Loyant in her opening remarks. His tone was particularly solemn. " The expectation of speaking, of understanding is strong. The court knows it. Strong because old, it goes back to 10 years . The first complaint was filed by the SUD union in 2009. The president continued: " Forte because painful, some voices are extinct. (...) Strong car carrier of future ".
" The court wants to understand the operation of a company that at the time, in France, had nearly 100,000 employees, " added the magistrate, facing a packed house. " The court wants to understand why some employees have committed suicide by leaving words against their employers ."
"The emotion is going to be present, deaf or violent"
The first day of this river trial scheduled to last until July 12 began with the call of defendants: France Telecom, became Orange in 2013, Didier Lombard, CEO from 2005 to 2010, Louis-Pierre Wenes, ex-number 2 of the company, Olivier Barberot, former director of human resources and four other former officials found for "complicity in moral harassment". This trial will be that of institutional bullying, different from the classic cases where the link is direct between the alleged perpetrator and his victim.
Then the court called the civil parties. Among them, the widow and four children of Rémy Louvradoux, a France Telecom official who set himself on fire in front of a company site in Bordeaux in 2011. Another plaintiff moved towards the bar by staring straight into his ex-bosses' eyes. Several victims had tears in their eyes.
" The emotion will be present, deaf or violent, " warned the president. A psychologist will be present throughout the trial and a victim support office has been set up.
"They ask forgiveness from families, who are marked for life"
The investigating judges retained during the investigation the cases of thirty-nine employees: nineteen committed suicide, twelve tried to do so, and eight suffered an episode of depression or a work stoppage. But in total, 167 people became civil parties. " This trial is not only the trial of suicides but the trial of a corporate-wide moral harassment ," said lawyer Sylvie Topaloff, while her defense colleagues demanded the inadmissibility of the majority of these civil party constitutions.
Suffering at work, which France Telecom had become the symbol in the late 2000s, will be at the heart of the trial. The leaders had implemented a major restructuring program, including the goal of 22,000 departures. In 2006, in a speech to executives, Didier Lombard set the tone: " I will make the departures one way or another, by the window or by the door ".
" I'm waiting for them to apologize to the families, who are scarred for life, " Jean Perrin told reporters, whose brother, a worker like him from France Telecom, committed suicide.
" For the company, this trial is important: it will help to understand under what circumstances these dramas have arrived, " said Bruno Mettling, president of Orange Africa and Middle East and director of human resources of the group. 2010. " We do not forget ," he said, moved. The trial continues on Tuesday with the first hearing of the defendants.
(With Afp)