Éric Gandon, a 58-year-old man presenting himself as a "naturopath" and his son were indicted on Thursday after several deaths which occurred following prolonged fasts which they had organized during "water cures", announced the prosecution. of Tours.
A 44-year-old woman died on August 12, 2021, during an internship organized in a castle in Noyant-de-Touraine (Indre-et-Loire) by Éric Grandon.
The courses offered by Éric Gandon for "several hundred or even thousands of euros" consisted "in not absorbing solid foods for one to several weeks without any medical follow-up being provided or planned", explains in a press release the public prosecutor of Tours, Grégoire Dulin.
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Despite the death of his trainee, Éric Gandon had continued the courses in progress, leading the prefecture to issue a few days later an order prohibiting these cures and stays in the town.
Judicial information was quickly opened in Tours and made it possible to identify four other victims, two of whom have since died.
A complaint concerns a man in his sixties, who died on July 18, 2020, a month after taking part in an internship organized in Vendée when he was suffering from terminal cancer.
Another is linked to the death, on March 15, 2022, of a young woman who had taken training organized by Éric Gandon the previous year when she suffered from liver cancer and was out of treatment, details the prosecutor. .
Two other complaints come from participants in the course organized in the summer of 2021.
His son placed under judicial supervision
Despite the deaths and the administrative measures, "Éric Gandon had continued to organize fasting courses and the promotion of his methods, which did not appear to be recognized or endorsed by any public institution or medical authority", underlines the press release from the Tours prosecutor's office. .
The naturopath was indicted on counts of manslaughter, abuse of weakness, endangering the lives of others and illegal exercise of the professions of doctor and pharmacist for facts that occurred from July 2020 to January 2023. He was imprisoned.
His 25-year-old son, who participated in the organization of internships and the promotion of his father's methods via a YouTube channel, was indicted on charges of illegal exercise of the professions of doctor and pharmacist.
He was placed under judicial control with a ban on exercising any activity related to fasting and naturopathy.
The two indicted, who have no criminal record, dispute all of the facts with which they are charged, said the prosecution.
