The former mayor of Saint-Côme-du-Mont (Manche) was sentenced Wednesday by the Coutances court to four months in prison and a fine of 7,500 euros, for having denounced attacks and mutilations that he was in fact self-inflicted.
Absent from the debates because he was hospitalized, Bernard Denis was on trial for having denounced death threats, gunshots at his van and violence with barbaric acts that he had in reality inflicted on himself, which he admits.
The case had a national impact when, in November 2022, the elected official was found in a field, his eyes and mouth covered with tape, two nails in each hand and one in each foot.
This conviction takes up the requisitions of prosecutor Gauthier Poupeau, who regretted that
“the State does not have the right to recover its expenses”
, namely 70,000 euros in investigation costs.
“It is a decision which partly corresponds to reality since my client himself admitted the facts
,” declared the lawyer of the elected official, Aline Lebret, regretting the choice of the court to judge Bernard Denis in his absence .
Psychiatrist experts described an alteration in the discernment of this former mayor of the delegated commune of Carentan-les-Marais (capital), but no abolition, which is why he could be found guilty.
“His lack of esteem is compensated by a need to be recognized and loved
,” said an expert,
“victimizing himself protects him from collapse
. ”
Fake threatening emails
The story begins in November 2021 with the fire in his garage and two of his vehicles, as well as a tag
“the mayor supports Macron, to death”
signed
“Zemmour”
, on his house.
Justice has not found the perpetrators of these acts.
An act of which he is
“the victim”
, according to Me Lebret, and which marks the beginning of the slide of a
“sick man”
: he is then
“asked by his deputy to communicate”
on this affair, in a national context of violence made to the elected.
Displayed support for President Macron, Bernard Denis, 67, then filed a complaint for death threat letters, the handwriting of which, his own, would later be found on a sign during another false attack.
In May 2022, Bernard Denis said he was the victim of gunshots on his vehicle while he was installing signs supporting Emmanuel Macron for the presidential campaign, before admitting to being the author, after having given up on
"being shoot a bullet”
in the forest.
Hospitalized several times in psychiatry, the man was then found on November 9, 2022 in a field, injured by nails in his hands and feet, suggesting a new attack.