Lake Caussade covers 20 hectares, in the town of Pinel-Hauterive, in the Lot-et-Garonne. It allows farmers to irrigate their crops in the dry season. But it was also built illegally in the fall of 2018. This was recalled this Friday by the criminal court of Agen by sentencing to prison terms two leaders of the Chamber of Agriculture of the department.
Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, its president, and Patrick Franken, its vice-president from the Rural Coordination, were respectively sentenced to 9 and 8 months in prison. To which is added for the defendants the revocation of stays pronounced during previous trials.
A compromise for the future?
The two men, who immediately announced that they were going to appeal the judgment, must also pay a fine of 7,000 euros each. The Chamber of Agriculture will have to pay a fine of 40,000 euros.
Since 2018, the controversial Lake Caussade project has given rise to four prefectural decrees and five legal proceedings brought, like France Nature Environnement (FNE), by environmental defense associations.
👩‍⚖️What conviction for the illegal construction of the #Caussade dam in the #LotEtGaronne?
While waiting for the verdict of tomorrow, useful feedback on this dossier which combines injustices and embodies what not to do in terms of water management. 👇 https://t.co/BdHXvdzE6n
In March the elected officials of Lot-et-Garonne and the State proposed to the farmers a compromise allowing them to use the reservoir of water to irrigate this summer before a complete emptying in the fall, prelude to a new request for authorization.
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- Aquitaine
- Agen
- Drought
- Justice
- Agriculture