The Guy Dauphin Environnement company (GDE) was sentenced on Tuesday in correctional facilities in Argentan (Orne), after the death in 2014 of the guardian of a disputed site of the waste treatment company.
Read also: Hérault: the body of a newborn baby discovered in a waste treatment center
The court
"condemned the company GDE to 100,000 euros fine, increased by 10% in order to finance aid to victims,"
Florence Sroda, prosecutor of the Republic of Argentan (Orne), told AFP.
The 44-year-old victim's employer, the company Conexia, is for its part fined 30,000 euros, added the magistrate.
On February 11, 2014, the security guard in charge of guarding the highly disputed waste center of Nonant-le-Pin (Orne) was found dead on the site from which GDE has since separated.
The man had apparently
"slipped"
into the water treatment basin where his body was found, according to the prosecutor at the time Hugues de Phily.
"Traces on the hand of the man suggest that he could try to get out of it"
, had specified the magistrate explaining that the thesis of the accident was privileged on that of the suicide.
Getting out of this basin
"lined with a kind of tarpaulin"
was not easy and the water was cold, had specified Hugues de Phily.
The body of the security guard was found between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. by his colleagues
"Surprised not to see him return from a round"
, according to the magistrate.
First conviction in 2016
Opened on October 22, 2013, the waste center was blocked two days later and until October 6, 2014 by opponents who feared that this center would pollute the surrounding land with a worldwide reputation for equine breeding.
GDE was then ordered in 2016 to close this waste center near the Haras national du Pin.
The Nantes administrative court of appeal ruled that the operation of the site, with a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes, presented
"risks to health, safety, public health, and the environment"
.
GDE presents itself as
"one of the leaders in recycling in France"
with
"a national network of more than 68 sites"
.
