The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, May 7, 2021 – SYSPEO / SIPA
The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal on Monday confirmed the decision taken at first instance. Christian Estrosi was convicted of “public insult” towards the geologist Eric Gilli whom he had called a “charlatan” about the work on line 2 of the Nice tramway, confirmed to 20 minutes the entourage of the mayor of Nice.
In addition to the damages that he will have to pay to the victim, an unsuccessful candidate for the legislative elections in Nice in June 2017, the elected official was fined 2,000 euros, instead of the 5,000 euros judged by the Nice Criminal Court end of 2020, reminds Nice morning.
In meeting of the metropolitan council
Since 2010, the academic and karstologist Eric Gilli had been critical of the choice made by the mayor of Nice to build tram line 2 partly underground. The specialist saying he feared collapses along the site and denouncing the additional cost generated by this type of construction. On October 10, 2017, in the middle of the metropolitan council, the mayor and president of Nice Côte d’Azur got carried away following a question from his opponent Olivier Bettati, calling the geologist a “charlatan out of his sarcophagus”.
“In his defense, I must admit that I was a little wrong because I had not imagined that the damage would be as important on Boulevard Victor Hugo and Rue de France”, reacted Eric Gilli after the first decision, in October 2020 .