Europe 1 with AFP 7:18 p.m., December 13, 2022
Sentenced on Tuesday to a four-month suspended prison sentence for "violence" on his wife, the ex-number 2 of La France insoumise Adrien Quatennens denounced "a media lynching", while excluding resigning from his post of deputy.
“Resigning after being sentenced for an act that I recognized would set a dangerous precedent,” he said in an interview with “La Voix du Nord”.
The former number 2 of La France insoumise, Adrien Quatennens, sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison suspended for "violence" on his wife, denounced in an interview with La Voix du Nord "
a
media lynching", excluding resign from his post as an MP.
“Resigning after being convicted for an act that I have recognized would set a dangerous precedent and open the door to all political manipulations of privacy,” he said for his first speech since his withdrawal. coordination of LFI in September.
Quatennens wants to "honor" his mandate
Suspended for four months from his group in the wake of his conviction, the deputy from the North announced his intention to "honour" his mandate "within the framework" of his political group "because these are the ideas that I have been defending since the beginnings of my commitment alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchon".
"I will respect the group's collective decision," he insisted.
"But mine is mine and it's taken: I've paid enough on all counts. I won't give in."
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The elected official believes that in addition to his conviction - as part of a plea-guilty procedure - the political sanction against him "is already heavy and unprecedented", since he is no longer the coordinator nor "the main spokesperson" of LFI.
A slap that he says he "regretted"
On the merits of the case, he regrets having "silently endured an unprecedented media lynching".
“The investigation concluded what I had recognized: a slap given in the context of an argument, more than a year ago and never reproduced, and the sending of too many romantic text messages following a divorce announcement. misunderstood,” he explained.
"This gesture does not look like me", he continued about this slap which he says he "regretted a lot".
He claims that his wife "openly threatened" him to "destroy (his) political commitment" if he did not respond favorably to her requests for divorce.
"Even today (...) I am being blackmailed by the complaint or the media".
"I know that we wouldn't be here if I had denied it like all the others do. But I don't regret it. Especially if it can usefully serve the cause of the fight against violence against women", a he insisted.
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"I simply discovered at 32 that in France, when you kneel down, recognize a fault and accept its sanction, the relentlessness does not stop," he added. .
"The message sent has the merit of clarity: deny!"
He considers himself to be the victim of a "political" coup intended to "defeat" him.
"Several concordant sources tell me that it was directly orchestrated from the Ministry of the Interior. I am not in a position to affirm it myself today," he said.