Unsanitary housing in Marseille: trial required for the tragedy of rue d'Aubagne

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: GARDEL Bertrand / hemis.fr / hemis.fr / Hemis via AFP 4:02 p.m., March 16, 2024

The prosecution requested the referral to the criminal court of the four natural and legal persons indicted for the collapse of two dilapidated buildings, rue d'Aubagne, in the heart of Marseille, on November 5, 2018, a drama of unworthy housing which had cost the lives of eight people.

The prosecution intends to prosecute the four people indicted "for involuntary homicide and involuntary injuries", the Marseille public prosecutor told AFP on Saturday, confirming that the indictment signed Thursday by the first vice-prosecutor Michel Sastre and revealed Friday by the daily

however, had dismissed the charge of endangering others.

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“If the requisitions were to be followed (by the three investigating judges responsible for this case), a pre-trial hearing could take place in the spring, for a possible opening of the trial this fall,” explained to AFP Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone.

Four people could therefore be judged for these eight missing lives, in a tragedy symptomatic of the scale of the issue of unsanitary housing in the second largest city in France, in its very heart, just a stone's throw from the Old Port and the the Canebière.

“Inescapable” collapses

First two individuals: Julien Ruas, deputy mayor responsible for prevention and risk management, when the city was still led by Jean-Claude Gaudin (LR);

and Richard Carta, the architect appointed as an expert by the administrative court of Marseille, who had inspected the building at 65 rue d'Aubagne, where the eight victims lived, on October 18, 2018, barely three weeks before the tragedy.

A visit that he had botched in an hour, without questioning any of the residents.

And two legal entities: Marseille Habitat, a mixed economy company from the city of Marseille which owns 63 rue d'Aubagne, an empty but totally dilapidated building which collapsed at the same time as 65;

and the Liautard firm, the co-ownership trustee responsible for the management of 65.

If, in his indictment, which AFP was able to consult on Saturday, Michel Sastre believes that "no one could predict a collapse" of the two buildings, the magistrate has very severe words for those indicted.

Certainly, "it was certain" during Richard Carta's intervention that the collapses were "inevitable", he believes, on the basis of the expert opinions included in the file.

But Richard Carta "did not fulfill the minimum obligations of diligence of an expert", denounces the magistrate, evoking a "routine drama".

As for Julien Ruas, he demonstrated during the investigation that “any notion of proactivity, responsibility and initiative in relation to his missions were completely foreign to him”.