Deputy Adrien Quatennens (La France insoumise, LFI) was given a four-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday, December 13, for violence against his ex-companion. He will also have to pay him 2,000 euros in damages for non-pecuniary damage. “This sentence is a solemn warning which does not prevent him from rejoining the Assembly and continuing his elective mandate”estimated his lawyer, Jade Dousselin, at the end of the hearing.
The sentence had been proposed to Mr. Quatennens by the public prosecutor of Lille in the context of an appearance on prior admission of guilt. It was then publicly approved by a judge, following a closed session for “ensure respect for the private and intimate life of individuals” as well as “serenity of debates”.
In detail, the elected official was sentenced for “violence without incapacity committed by spouse” between October and December 2021, as well as for “regular and malicious sending of messages” to his wife, by SMS and WhatsApp, between August and September 2022 , said the judge.
The former number two of LFI, indented following revelation by The chained Duck of the deposit of two handrails and a complaint by Mme Quatennens, had publicly acknowledged two facts: a slap to his wife ” More than a year ago ” in a context “mutual aggressiveness” as well as text messages sent after the couple separated.
Céline Quatennens had denounced “physical and psychological violence” exercised since ” several years “ by her husband, referring “his anger” and “his crises”. “It is unpleasant to me that my husband minimizes the facts publicly by discrediting my person”she had added in a press release at Agence France-Presse.
Crisis at LFI
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had initially shown his support for his foal, provoking the ire of feminist activists and a crisis within LFI, has not spoken since these new accusations. This sentence opens the question of the return of Mr. Quatennens to the Hemicycle, even if the severity of the sanction, while his entourage rather expected a fine, could hinder a return to the Assembly, or even to politics.
The member for Lille, who must speak “in the next few hours” according to his lawyer, had hitherto been excluded from the activities of his parliamentary group. “You can’t compare it to people who beat up their wives, who put GHB in glasses”declared the mayor of Faches-Thumesnil, Patrick Proisy (LFI), in reference to the recent conviction of the relative of Emmanuel Macron Laurent Bigorgne, who drugged his former sister-in-law. “We hope he comes back. We cannot do without a speaker like Adrien Quatennens in the fight that is preparing for pensions “Added the elected official, who had come, with a dozen others, before the court to support Mr. Quatennens.
Before her conviction, the “rebellious” deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Clémentine Autain had insisted on the need to “take seriously the words of Céline Quatennens”but also of “to worry about the rehabilitation of Adrien Quatennens, a subject often evaded”.
Socialist and environmentalist allies of LFI called for the resignation of the deputy from the North, as did the feminist collective #NousToutes. “A violent man cannot represent women victims of violence on French territory”estimated the collective in a press release on Monday.