“
A complex private matter.
"This is how legal and police professionals preferred to comment on the case on Thursday, while the custody of Jean-Christophe Lagarde, president of the UDI and deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis was lifted. In the evening.
The investigation continues in preliminary.
Read also: Jean-Christophe Lagarde in police custody for "possession of a weapon"
It would be above all to protect the man from himself that the police would have arrested the politician on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, around one in the morning.
“
The police received a distress call from his wife, who was afraid for him.
There was no violence vis-à-vis her
", wishes to emphasize this source close to the file, judging that Jean-Christophe Lagarde would be subject to"
a big slack
".
Hervé Marseille, member of the UDI and president of the centrist Union group, was able to discuss with Aude Lagarde, the wife of Jean-Christophe, who succeeded her husband at the head of the town hall of Drancy when he was reelected in the legislative elections of June 2017. She would have confirmed to him a difficult marital situation, linked in particular to the fragile state of health of two children of the family, one of them having been hospitalized recently in Toulouse and for which Jean-Christophe Lagarde seemed very concerned lately.
In the entourage of the president of the UDI, during recent exchanges in videoconference, no one seems to have observed in him a particularly depressive state.
If the family context seems particularly complicated, his wife has nevertheless denied any excesses or acts of violence on the part of her husband during this evening.
An argument would be at the origin of this confused evening.
Jean-Christophe Lagarde would have returned late from the Assembly, probably "
exhausted
", underlines Hervé Marseille.
The police would have seized the opportunity of the possession of weapons to take the politician to the premises of the judicial police of 93.
Sports shooting enthusiast
Practicing sport shooting, the police indeed found two 9 mm caliber handguns and category B rifles. Would he have used one of them to threaten suicide?
"
The police services may have taken fright by finding weapons at home ...
" hypothesizes the lawyer of the deputy, Me Yvon Goutal, to AFP.
But, for him, these are weapons "
which are regularly held within the framework of the practice of the sport shooting
".
He also indicates that he was not aware of "
any rumor of violence or illicit weapons
".
It is in view of the hearings that the public prosecutor of Bobigny, Fabienne Klein-Donati, decided to continue the preliminary investigation.
To read also: Jean-Christophe Lagarde: "The UDI is in a constructive opposition"
Thursday, the friends of the president of the UDI were counting on a positive evolution of the situation as soon as he would have "
rested
".
The placement in police custody of Jean-Christophe Lagarde caused a wave of amazement and sadness within the UDI.
Several elected officials spontaneously sent him wishes for a speedy recovery on the movement's WhatsApp loop.
Interim period
For Louis Giscard d'Estaing, one of the vice-presidents of the UDI, the “
personal and private
” nature of this affair should not have an impact on the functioning of the party.
For him, there is "
no link
" between these facts and the political movement.
Which is "
structured
" and has "
collegial bodies
" to ensure the continuity of its action in the event that Jean-Christophe Lagarde could no longer ensure, "
occasionally
", his mission as president of the centrist party.
If an interim period were to be considered, the names of Hervé Marseille and Olivier Henno, senator from the North, secretary general of the UDI, are mentioned.