Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: 9:33 a.m., April 5, 2024

In the Hautes-Alpes, the Gap criminal court requested up to three years in prison for the mayor of Châteauroux-les-Alpes and his son, for alleged acts of poaching. The judgment was reserved until June 6. 

Up to three years of suspended prison time were requested against the mayor of Châteauroux-les-Alpes (Hautes-Alpes) and his son, during their trial Thursday in Gap for alleged acts of poaching. After more than six hours of hearing, the criminal court reserved its judgment until June 6 for Jean-Marie Barral, 76 years old, and his son, 50 years old, against whom 10 months and 36 months of suspended imprisonment were imposed. been asked.

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Additional penalties were also required such as "confiscation of weapons, withdrawal of hunting license, ban on applying for another for 5 years" and "possessing a weapon subject to authorization" for 7 years for the councilor and 10 years for the fifty-year-old. The latter, also targeted by a fine of 2,000 euros, appeared for "hunting in prohibited times, unauthorized possession of a weapon, illegal transport and detention and destruction of a protected species". Jean-Marie Barral for “complicity” and “concealment” but not for “destruction”.

Denounced by anonymous letters

Faced with the defendants, who described themselves during their trial as "hunting enthusiasts", four environmental associations and the Ecrins National Park had become civil parties. On November 23, the two men were placed under judicial supervision as part of an investigation into alleged poaching over several years which had been denounced by anonymous letters and rumors.

Since 2020, they have led to surveillance by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) of the activities of the defendants. It allowed us to observe at the beginning of September, nine days before the official opening of the hunt, the mayor's son "taking the weapon out of his backpack before shooting at around twenty meters", in a forest near the family home, according to testimony from an environmental inspector at the hearing Thursday.

386 pieces of frozen game

A search, carried out the day after the observation at the elected official's home, uncovered "386 pieces of game in the freezer", according to the accusation, a quarter of which "came from poaching". Among the seized meat, that of two ibexes, a protected species because it is threatened and whose hunting is strictly prohibited in France.

One of the defendants affirmed at the hearing that the animals had been found dead "at a neighboring breeder", victims of electrocution against the electric cable of a sheep park. “We have nothing in this case. We are only talking about rumors and reputation,” said the mayor’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Colmant, on Thursday, pleading for acquittal.