Robert Ménard, the mayor (DVD) of Béziers, announced that he was again summoned before the judicial police for refusing to marry a man under OQTF (obligation to leave French territory). His decision dates back to July 2023. It was, at the time, widely commented on.
The man in question, a 23-year-old Algerian, was expelled three days after the date of this aborted marriage. “Unfavorably known to the police [pour vol avec violences] and under an obligation to leave French territory since August 2022, the individual was placed in the Sète administrative detention center on Monday July 17 at the request of the prefect of Hérault,” the prefecture communicated.
“It’s the world upside down,” says the mayor of Béziers
“It’s me who will have to explain myself and say why I refused to marry this couple,” the councilor said in front of the BFMTV cameras. Yes, what I did was illegal, but it was legitimate. It’s the world upside down. »
Robert Ménard risks five years in prison, a 75,000 euro fine and the withdrawal of his mandate as mayor. “He is wanted, since he is under Obligation to leave French territory, and I am asked, as a representative of the law, to marry him. I am scandalized,” he explained in January.