The Grenoble public prosecutor’s office has decided to appeal the acquittal decision pronounced by the Valence criminal court in a case of favoritism of which the mayor of Grenoble Eric Piolle was suspected, the City of Grenoble said on Tuesday.
“The City of Grenoble was informed today that the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office has appealed against the acquittal decision pronounced by the Valence criminal court on October 25, 2022, as part of the 1st Tile Festival of 2015. “, indicate the services of Eric Piolle in a press release.
General relaxation
The 49-year-old city councilor had appeared with six co-defendants at the end of September before the Drôme court – where the case had been out of place – for alleged facts of granting unjustified advantages for the benefit of the “Fusees” association, entrusting him with the organization of a popular festival in Grenoble in 2015 and 2016.
During the trial at the end of September and after fairly technical debates, the prosecutor Laurent de Caigny had spared Eric Piolle, believing that there was no certainty “that he maneuvered” or “concealed”. He had therefore not requested a conviction, without however explicitly requesting release. The Valence Criminal Court had pronounced a general release for all the defendants.
As part of this case, Eric Piolle had been heard in the premises of the judicial police in June 2021, under the regime of police custody, a few months then from the environmental primary for the last presidential election. The procedure took place following a preliminary investigation launched in 2018 after a report to the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC).