Several months in prison were required Friday in Agen against two leaders of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lot-et-Garonne tried for the illegal construction of a reservoir for irrigation purposes. The work has been disputed by environmental defense associations for two years.
The prosecution asked for nine months in prison for Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, president of the Departmental Chamber of Agriculture, and eight for Patrick Franken, his vice-president and former president of the Rural Coordination (CR, majority).
Five years of deprivation of civil rights and a fine of 5,000 euros were also required against the two men, whom some 200 RC activists, accompanied by cows and tractors, had come to support the courthouse.
"Environmental offenders"
Against the Chamber of Agriculture, a legal person, the public prosecutor's office asked for a fine of 40,000 euros and the restoration of the site. Deliberation is expected on July 10.
Located about twenty kilometers north of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Lake Caussade was built on 20 hectares by farmers wishing to irrigate their farms in the dry season, despite 4 prefectural orders and 5 proceedings before the administrative court initiated by environmental protection associations, including France Nature Environnement (FNE).
“In the history of French justice, this is a completely exceptional case. No public administrative establishment has violated the laws so deliberately and with such a balance. They are environmental offenders, ”said Ms. Alice Terrasse, lawyer for FNE. According to her, the book is also "dangerous for the safety of the public according to several studies". The four civil party associations claim nearly 100,000 euros in damages.
🚨 Illegal damming of #Caussade: several studies known to the State, which we are revealing today, show that the structure has numerous faults and threatens several dwellings. Thunderstorms may be enough to get the better of him. #LotEtGaronne https://t.co/YH3eX5PZDP
- France Nature Environnement (@FNEasso) July 2, 2020For the public prosecutor, the work was not only carried out "in defiance of regulations and nature but also in contempt of the life and health of others for the benefit of a few". A reference to the destruction by the farmers of an electric line overhanging the work, without the authorization of Enedis, civil party and which requests 32,900 euros in compensation for material damage.
A compromise proposed in 2018
The two agricultural leaders recalled that a prefectural order had initially authorized the works in June 2018, before its cancellation three months later after intervention by the ministries of ecological transition and agriculture.
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"A political decision" taken "under pressure from France Nature Environment", denounced Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, "proud to have built this lake". The defendants' lawyer, Me Luc-Christophe Dejean, deplored a "republican schizophrenia", with on the one hand criminal proceedings but on the other hand a letter from May "signed by four ministers calling for appeasement and a favorable regulation for the legalization of the work ”.
In March, elected officials from Lot-et-Garonne and the state proposed a compromise allowing farmers to use the reservoir to irrigate this summer before it is completely emptied in the fall, a prelude to filing a new application for authorization.