Anti-Linky activist given suspended sentence for theft of 92 concentrators

Europe 1 with AFP 8:07 p.m., January 10, 2022

An anti-Linky activist was sentenced Monday to six months suspended prison sentence in Rennes for the theft with degradation of 92 concentrators allowing the operation of these smart meters.

The criminal court matched this conviction, in accordance with the requisitions, with the confiscation of the defendant's car and other goods placed under seal.

For "a reason of survival"

Christophe M., a 58-year-old former computer scientist, was also ordered to pay 47,165.70 euros to the operator of the electricity network Enedis, in compensation for his financial damage, as well as one euro in moral damage.

This inhabitant of Pont-Péan, south of Rennes, appeared on Friday for the theft with destruction or degradation of these 92 concentrators in 2020, throughout Brittany.

These boxes allow the fifty or so Linky meters to which they are connected to transmit their readings to Enedis.

But they are accused by electrosensitive people of emitting harmful waves. 

"If I have come to this end, it is for a reason of survival", had declared Christophe M. at the bar, invoking "self-defense" and "an action of resistance in the face of a kind of denial and of oppression on life. "

"It is not the Jean Moulin of low frequency waves, it is not the martyr of the cause", retorted the representative of the prosecution, requesting 6 months suspended sentence.

Contacted by AFP, the defendant's lawyer, Jérôme Bouquet-Elkaïm, announced that his client was going to appeal his conviction.

A "real problem"

"We expected a more lenient decision because we put our finger on a real problem", namely the situation of people with electrohypersensitivity (EHS), explained the lawyer.

In March 2018, the health agency Anses recognized that electrosensitive people were suffering and that this suffering had to be taken care of, while adding that "no solid experimental evidence" allowed for the moment "to establish a causal link between exposure to electromagnetic fields and the symptoms described by people reporting EHS ".