The association of French mayors of Hautes-Pyrénées (AMF65) denounces the suspended sentence of one of its members.
According to her, this is a “disproportionate” sanction, according to a motion voted on Friday.
It was the accidental drowning of a 2-year-old girl that led to the city councilor being convicted.
The mayor of the village of Villembits (Hautes-Pyrénées) received an eight-month suspended prison sentence for “manslaughter”.
The tragedy took place during a party in her village in August 2023, when a mother who had consumed alcohol and cannabis fell into a stream in the middle of the night.
She fell with the stroller her daughter was in, who did not survive.
The mother was released, but the mayor, like the president of the festival committee, were given suspended prison sentences because alcohol had been served when it was prohibited.
Furthermore, the party took place near the river and not in the room where it was initially planned by municipal decree.
The gap between responsibilities and means pointed out
This decision by the Tarbes court led the AMF65 board of directors to denounce “a disproportionate sanction for an elected official faced with a dramatic accident in his municipality”.
“All the elected officials in the department were very shocked” when the decision was announced, told Viviane Artigalas, president of AMF65 and senator for Hautes-Pyrénées.
“We have the impression that we were looking for someone to blame.
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According to the AMF65, mayors of small towns have “fewer human and financial resources” to ensure the safety of their constituents and are “often lonely, but with the same personal responsibilities” as their colleagues in larger communities.
During the trial, the mayor explained that he expressed his disagreement when he learned that the party would take place outside, without daring to cancel it.
“I couldn’t see myself doing that,” he said.