A controversy that the presidential majority cannot extinguish. The general delegate of La République en Marche (LREM) Stanislas Guerini on Wednesday defended Jérôme Peyrat, candidate of the presidential majority for the legislative elections in the fourth district of the Dordogne, convicted of domestic violence, immediately triggering criticism from the opposition.
This former counselor at the Elysée was sentenced in September 2020 to a suspended fine of 3,000 euros in a case of violence against an ex-companion. “He’s an honest man, I don’t think he’s capable of violence against women,” said Stanislas Guerini on France Info. “If I had the conviction or even the suspicion that we are dealing with someone who could be violent and guilty of violence against women, I would never have accepted this investiture,” he assured. .
“Looking at things in their complexity”
Stanislas Guerini declared that he had “taken the time to read the expected [du jugement]to understand, to know if deep down, we could have someone who could be capable of voluntary violence, I believe and I am even infinitely convinced that that was not the case”.
Stanislas Guerini also assured that he wanted “never to give the impression that we could prevent the release of women’s speech, that we could prevent the judicialization of cases when there is intramarital violence” but that it was necessary to “look at things in their complexity”.
“In this case, there was a dispute, two convictions, on both sides and I believe that we can respect that”, he added, stressing that the ex-companion of Jérôme Peyrat ” was also condemned.
The outgoing Jacqueline Dubois candidate against Jérôme Peyrat
The violence observed had earned his ex-wife 14 days of ITT. She herself was sentenced to fines of 500 and 800 euros for malicious calls and SMS to Jérôme Peyrat and relatives.
On social networks, this defense of Jérôme Peyrat immediately earned Stanislas Guerini a slew of criticism from the opposition. “What a shame, what a shipwreck,” reacted LFI MP Mathilde Panot on Twitter. “I am thinking of the women victims of domestic violence who hear these words of incredible violence. Go from the great cause of the quinquennium to the great tartufferie. We need a reaction from the majority leader Elisabeth Borne, ”said socialist senator Rachid Temal.
The investiture of Jérôme Peyrat in the Dordogne at the expense of the outgoing Macronist deputy Jacqueline Dubois causes shocks even in the majority. The latter announced on Wednesday that she would still be a candidate against Jérôme Peyrat.