Despite the tragedies and the alerts, the courses with unrecognized methods had continued.
A 58-year-old man presenting himself as a “naturopath” was indicted on Thursday, as was his son, after several deaths which occurred following prolonged fasts which they had organized during “hydric cures”, announced the prosecution. of Tours.
The courses offered by Eric Gandon for "several hundred or even thousands of euros" were "cures" consisting "of not absorbing solid foods for one to several weeks without any medical follow-up being provided or planned", explains in a press release the public prosecutor of Tours, Grégoire Dulin.
The prefecture forced to ban cures
During one of these courses, organized in a castle in Noyant-de-Touraine (Indre-et-Loire), between Tours and Poitiers, a 44-year-old woman died on August 12, 2021, triggering the investigation.
Despite the death of his intern, Eric Gandon had continued the current internships, leading the prefecture to issue a ban on the town.
Judicial information was quickly opened in Tours and made it possible to identify four other victims, two of whom have since died.
A complaint concerns a man in his sixties, who died on July 18, 2020, a month after taking part in an internship organized in Vendée when he was suffering from terminal cancer.
Another is linked to the death, on March 15, 2022, of a young woman who took training organized by Eric Gandon the previous year when she suffered from liver cancer and was out of treatment, details the prosecutor. .
Two other complaints come from participants in the course organized in the summer of 2021. "His methods did not appear recognized or endorsed by any public institution or medical authority", underlines the press release from the Tours prosecutor's office.
They dispute all the facts
Eric Gandon was indicted Thursday on counts of manslaughter, abuse of weakness, endangering the lives of others and illegal practice of the professions of doctor and pharmacist for facts that occurred from July 2020 to January 2023. He has been imprisoned.
His 25-year-old son, who participated in the organization of internships and the promotion of his father's methods via a YouTube channel, was indicted on charges of illegal exercise of the professions of doctor and pharmacist.
He was placed under judicial control with a ban on exercising any activity related to fasting and naturopathy.
The two indicted, who have no criminal record, contest all of the facts with which they are charged, indicates the prosecution.
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