Marseille (AFP)
Justice has dismissed the case against the far-right mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard for allegedly storing Muslim students in schools in his city.
No illicit file revealing the "racial, ethnic or religious" origins of the students of Béziers was discovered during the investigation, according to the decision of the examining magistrate, consulted Friday by AFP.
"After more than four years of an infamous procedure against Robert Ménard (...), justice had to face the facts: the City of Béziers and its mayor do not constitute and have never made up of files, of any nature whatsoever, of school children, "commented the City in a statement.
The case dates back to May 2015, when Mr. Ménard said on France 2 to school 64.6% of Muslims in his schools. He explained to be based on the fact that "the first names say the confessions". "I'm sorry to tell you that the mayor, he classifies the names of the children by class.I know I do not have the right to do it, but we do it," he added.
A preliminary investigation was opened for the illegal holding of a file. The town hall had been searched, then Monsieur Ménard heard. He had indicated that he had done a "manual count" from the consonance of the first names and had no computer file on it.
The proceedings had initially been dismissed but SOS Racisme had reopened it by filing a complaint with a civil party, which had resulted in the appointment of a magistrate. It is this judicial information that has now ended in dismissal.
Mr. Ménard had repeatedly made similar comments in commenting on this case, which had earned him another procedure, for "provocation to hatred and discrimination", which he was cleared in June by the Court of Justice. cassation, which definitely rejected the anti-racist associations that attacked it.
© 2019 AFP