He was prosecuted for provoking racial hatred after a publication about a mixed couple on Facebook.
Patrick Renard, deputy of the RN mayor of Fréjus David Rachline, was acquitted on January 24 by the criminal court of Draguignan (Var).
This Monday, the prosecution announced that it had appealed this decision.
During the trial in December, the Draguignan public prosecutor, Pierre Couttenier, requested five years of ineligibility and a 5,000 euro fine against the elected official.
On February 14, 2021, Patrick Renard reacted strongly to a road safety spot showing a couple preparing to make love with the slogan “life is stronger than a last drink before hitting the road”.
Then deputy in charge of security in Fréjus, the 71-year-old elected official stressed that it was a black man and a white woman, concluding “enough is enough” against a background of emojis in turd shape.
Suspended from the town hall of Fréjus then reinstated
The local association Republican Forum had taken this publication to court, which was quickly deleted.
David Rachline then suspended his deputy, before reinstating him a few months later, still as deputy but no longer responsible for security.
Absent during the trial, Patrick Renard had challenged any racist interpretation of his message before the investigators, ensuring that he had objected to the erotic nature of the clip, which he did not see the connection with road safety.
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During the trial, his lawyer David Dassa-Le Deist assured that the elected official was not racist and added that even if he had been, he had the right to be personally opposed to miscegenation as long as nothing prevented mixed couples from marrying in his town.
“From where he speaks, it is provocation,” replied the prosecutor.
“It’s not the thought police.
This is the thought of someone who can lead the police."