Evry (AFP)

Sentenced on appeal in February for rape and sexual assault, the former Secretary of State Georges Tron resigned Tuesday from his mandate as mayor of Draveil (Essonne) which he continued to lead while being imprisoned, told the AFP first deputy Richard Privat.

"I confirm the resignation of Georges Tron from his mandate as mayor", told AFP Mr. Privat, first deputy and replacement of the "prevented" mayor.

In a letter addressed to the Prefecture of Essonne and consulted by AFP, Georges Tron, Secretary of State between 2010 and 2011 in the Fillon government, affirms that it is "a very painful decision" .

"At this time, the prefecture has been informed of the prospect of Mr. Tron's resignation but has not received the resignation letters," the prefecture told AFP.

After a ten-year judicial soap opera and an acquittal at first instance, the elected official was sentenced on appeal in February to five years' imprisonment, including three farms, for rape and sexual assault of a former employee at the town hall, assorted six years of ineligibility.

He appealed to the Supreme Court.

On March 22, a request for the release of the mayor, imprisoned in the prison of Health in Paris, was rejected.

His resignation comes as the opposition and feminist associations criticized his "omnipresence" at the head of the town hall with which he is in "daily" contact.

Letters from the mayor have been read during two municipal councils held since February.

Foot massages, clandestine recordings, lies and "omerta", crude descriptions of triolic sex scenes: the microcosm of the town hall had been widely described during the four weeks of the appeal trial held in February.

According to two former employees of the town, civil parties, Georges Tron had used his power and his presence to constitute a "municipal harem" by offering employment to women in his town.

The mayor would have imposed touching and digital penetrations on them between 2007 and 2010, generally during scenes of threesome with his assistant to the Culture of the time, Brigitte Gruel, according to the victims.

- An evidence" -

LR mayor for 25 years of this city of 30,000 inhabitants on the right bank of the Seine, about thirty kilometers south of Paris, Georges Tron was reelected by more than 64% in the municipal elections in 2020 and is supported by a single block by its majority.

On May 12, government spokesman Gabriel Attal indicated that the government was working on "the conditions" for the dismissal of Georges Tron but that "there are (are) legal issues".

In his letter, Mr. Tron wrote: "My conviction is not final, I am still presumed innocent and within this framework, and despite the difficulty and harshness of this situation for my relatives and myself, I have , in full agreement with my municipal team, continued to exercise my functions as mayor of Draveil for the past three months ".

"But a debate opens today on the material capacity which I would have to carry out my functions. I do not have the means to participate", he continued.

"It is the least of things", commented succinctly on Twitter Marlène Schiappa, Minister for Citizenship.

For the association "Dare feminism!", It is "a great feminist victory".

"Finally! It took 3 months of mobilization of feminists and elected officials to obtain what should have been obvious," reacted for her part, Senator PS Laurence Rossignol.

For François Guignard, at the head of the opposition group Draveil Transition, this resignation is "a good thing for democracy. Citizens expect their elected representatives to be exemplary," he told AFP.

"He remains a municipal councilor and community councilor. He makes the choice of the calendar, of his replacement at the town hall and at the departmental council, he pulls all the strings", added François Damerval, another elected opposition.

Georges Tron also resigned from his mandate as vice-president of the Val-d'Yerres / Val de Seine agglomeration community.

© 2021 AFP