Of the 16 defendants in this trial, 11 are disabled. Drawing. – Mabel Amber – PixaBay
- 16 Toulouse accessibility activists were sentenced this Wednesday in Toulouse for blocking a TGV and entering the airport tracks.
- Eleven of the convicts are disabled. They’re all going to appeal.
- Beyond these judgments deemed severe, they believe above all that the conduct of the case and their trial perfectly illustrates their fight.
The ax fell on Wednesday for the 16 accessibility activists, including 11 people with disabilities. The Toulouse Criminal Court handed down unprecedented suspended prison sentences against 15 of the defendants for blocking a TGV at Matabiau station and then invading the tracks at Toulouse-Blagnac airport. Facts dating back to October and December 2018.
In March, the defendants took advantage of the hearing to continue their fight by emphasizing the lack of accessibility of the courthouse. At the time of the “verdict”, in a again crowded room, their lawyers are now denouncing “scandalous” and “incomprehensible” sentences. Odile Maurin, president of the Handi-Social association but also elected opposition member sitting on the Capitol, received the heaviest sentence: six months suspended sentence. Another militant in a wheelchair, the law student Kévin Fermine, also present on the two actions, is sentenced to four months suspended. The sentence is two months suspended for 13 other defendants and a sixteenth activist will have to pay a fine of 750 euros.
“We can clearly blame justice for a problem of accessibility and listening”
“Often justice is represented by a woman with a blindfold. There, I rather have the impression that she was deaf. And that this banner will be used to silence activists, ”laments Christophe Lèguevaques, one of the defense lawyers who announces his intention to appeal. “I am scandalized by this heavy verdict, abounds Kévin Fermine. They tried to nail our beak which only strengthens our determination in our fight ”. For Odile Maurin, “justice persists in wanting to condemn for the example of people who only defend themselves”.
The condemned especially noted that the deliberation – delivered at 9:30 am, in the hubbub and not translated for the hard of hearing or visually impaired – showed that the message sent at the time of the hearing was not heard. “We can clearly blame justice for a problem of accessibility and listening, analyzes lawyer Arié Alimi. We must all reflect on the dignity that justice must reserve for people with disabilities ”.