Le Figaro Nantes
Justice continues its work on rape accusations against a former socialist deputy at the town hall of Saint-Nazaire.
Elected in 2014 on the majority list of candidate David Samzun, Martin Arnout was indicted by the investigating judge of the Nantes criminal center, by a decision which dates back to August 2023, according to our colleagues from
Ouest France
.
“This is an automatic consequence of the complaint with the constitution of a civil party”
, specifies to Le
Figaro
Martin Arnout's lawyer, Me Loïc Cabioch.
Former city finance delegate, Martin Arnout has been the target of a judicial investigation since 2020 following the complaint of another socialist municipal representative from Saint-Nazaire, Gaëlle Betlamini.
The former municipal councilor presented, during a press conference organized in June 2019, her testimony of what she says was
“a non-consensual relationship”
that Martin Arnout allegedly imposed on her towards the end of 2014. The alleged victim spoke of a
“controlling relationship”
with her colleague, whom she had known for a long time.
Two rankings without follow-up
The ongoing judicial investigation in Nantes is the third investigation carried out around this rape case.
A first criminal procedure opened in 2019 by the Saint-Nazaire public prosecutor's office was dismissed.
The same year, the Nazaire court also closed a complaint for defamation filed by Martin Arnout against the first deputy at the time, Laurianne Deniaud.
In front of her peers, the elected official had accused the finance assistant of serious acts of a sexual nature, in May 2019, before Gaëlle Betlamini's complaint.
The affair had torn the ranks of the socialist majority of the town hall of Saint-Nazaire.
Neither Gaëlle Betlamini nor Martin Arnout were renewed on David Samzun's municipal list, after their respective resignations in June and October 2019. Despite criticism of his management of the scandal, the outgoing mayor was finally re-elected for a second mandate in June 2020. The second round pitted him against the elected environmentalist Pascale Hameau, who had been one of the fervent supporters of Gaëlle Betlamini.