Three parliamentarians as well as the president of a provincial community of New Caledonia wished Thursday the departure of the commander of the gendarmerie after the revelation of the information site Médiapart of his conviction in 2020 for domestic violence.
Read also A petition asks Darmanin for an inventory of the police responsible for domestic violence
"
I pointed out last night to the highest authorities of the State that this function was incompatible with this type of offense and that the decision had to be taken as soon as possible to send this colonel back to France,
" wrote Sonia Backés, who heads the southern province where Nouméa is located, on its Facebook page.
"22% of women are victims of violence"
The elected non-independence activist adds that "
in a country where 22% of women are victims of violence, (...) the decision to change the head of the gendarmerie in New Caledonia should not suffer from hesitation
".
To read also At the heart of 3919, "for listening and guidance of women victims of domestic violence"
In a press release, deputies Philippe Gomes and Philippe Dunoyer, and Senator Gérard Poadja, all three members of the center-right Calédonie Ensemble party, considered that this sentence "
disqualified Colonel Eric Steiger from exercising the responsibilities of commander of the gendarmerie forces in New Caledonia
”.
They then quoted the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who recently affirmed that "
any gendarme convicted of domestic violence should no longer be in contact with the public
" and that "
the treatment of this violence would henceforth be a priority for the police officers. and gendarmes everywhere in France
”.
Darmanin must "proceed with the replacement of the person concerned"
"
For all these reasons, we consider that the Minister of the Interior must imperatively replace the person concerned
", they indicated, recalling the "
scourge
" of violence against women in New Caledonia.
Read alsoMaking domestic violence the "priority" of the police is it achievable?
These reactions follow revelations Wednesday from Médiapart according to which Eric Steiger, appointed commander of the gendarmerie in New Caledonia on July 8, was sentenced last May for physical and psychological violence on his wife.
This 48-year-old colonel was sentenced at first instance in February 2020 to a six-month suspended prison sentence for violence committed between November 2017 and June 2018, before seeing his sentence reduced on appeal to a fine of 6,000 euros by the court of call from Paris, the investigation site reported.
Eric Steiger arrived in New Caledonia in August 2020 as second in command of the gendarmerie before being promoted.
Contacted, the gendarmerie in New Caledonia told AFP that there would be "
no reaction or comment
".
