Mayor and president of the metropolis of Montpellier, Philippe Saurel (various left) was indicted this Tuesday morning for "defamation", confirmed the elected official at 20 Minutes. On April 5, 2019, eleven mayors, municipal and metropolitan councilors, some of whom had been removed from the metropolitan executive during a major reshuffle a few months earlier, had filed complaints against the elected official.
At the heart of this complaint, a letter with metropolitan letterhead, received in February 2019 by the residents of the municipalities whose representatives did not vote for the community budget. With their vote, these elected officials would thus have refused "the common projects which are at the heart of your expectations and your daily life", wrote in this missive Philippe Saurel, before listing the files carried by the metropolis of Montpellier, such as the realization of line 5 of the tram, the fight against floods, the non-increase in taxes, cycle paths or accessibility for the disabled.
A “real punitive strategy”
In this letter, “Philippe Saurel explains that, since these elected officials voted against the budget, they are against accessibility for the disabled, the fight against floods, etc., indignant Maxime Rosier, the lawyer who lodged the complaint of the elected officials, on April 5, 2019. They are mayors of small towns, and to be beaten on the head like that, this true punitive strategy, they did not wish to let that pass. "
The defamation complaint also concerned a declaration by the president of the metropolis to France 3. "Those who revolt are those who are no longer vice-presidents and who have lost, every month, a salary which corresponded to this mandate", had explained Philippe Saurel, asked about the anger of the mayors after the distribution of the letter.
“The president of the metropolis explains that the elected officials did not vote the budget because they lost a salary, that their vote is not in the interest of their municipality, but because of personal interests and financial! "Continues Maxime Rosier.
"The words I said were not defamatory"
This indictment did not surprise Philippe Saurel. "For defamation cases, the indictment is automatic," said 20 minutes the mayor, who had, in response to the approach of the eleven elected officials, filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation. "The comments I made are not defamatory, they are the exact truth," he said. But the mayors used them against me for political purposes. "
As for the letter, continues Philippe Saurel, it is also not defamatory. "It is an information letter to the citizens of the municipalities whose mayors voted against the budget," confides the elected official. This letter was sent only to residents of the municipalities whose mayors used the budget as political stooges. A number of other mayors abstained. In principle, when they want to assert their indisposition with regard to the structure or the president, they abstain. There, they voted against, with a political slogan. Afterwards, they must not explain to the inhabitants that they are behind the metropolitan projects! "
The complaint filed simultaneously, on April 5, 2019, for "illegal taking of interests and embezzlement of public funds", is still pending. Elected officials were insurgent that Philippe Saurel uses public money to distribute a "political tract", said René Revol (FI), the mayor of Grabels, when filing the complaint. In response, Philippe Saurel recalls the cost of this operation: 7,000 euros.
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- Languedoc-Roussillon
- Montpellier
- Justice
- Philippe Saurel
- Defamation