Vulgar and insulting exchanges between two magistrates of the Montauban prosecution and the police were discovered by the courts, in the light of a previous investigation. Faced with this rumored affair which is only in its infancy, the police and justice find themselves in embarrassment.
Conversations and photos with sexual connotations, sexist remarks and racist statements. These are the type of messages exchanged by several men on a Whatsapp group during the exercise of their functions… as magistrates of the Montauban prosecution and police officers of the Tarn-et-Garonne prefecture. The four officials are now the subject of an investigation by the judicial police which consists of peeling the thread of the conversation.
“Everything is currently being analyzed as to their possible sequel”, specifies the general prosecutor of Toulouse, Franck Rastoul, before completing: “On the one hand on the ethical aspect, on the other hand on the possible criminal qualification to which these exchanges may fall. The case was brought to the attention of justice at the end of last year, when a first procedure concerning the policeman who could be at the origin of this Whatsapp group, Julien B.
This 43-year-old brigadier was tried on Thursday May 11 in the context of a trial for “harassment”, “false in public writing” And “misappropriation of personal data” against his ex-girlfriend. He is suspected of having registered her on a dating site and of having brought a naked man to his terrace, without the knowledge of this 44-year-old lawyer, which he denies.
“It is within the framework of the digital requisitions that the new elements have been highlightedcontextualizes Franck Rastoul. This initial case therefore gave rise to incidental proceedings.”
“I make the group in order to share ass galore.”
Whatsapp conversation message
In addition to the gritty comments on women frequented by the interested parties, one of the first messages shared in January 2022, according to Le Parisien, sets the tone: “I make the group in order to share ass galore.” So many compromising elements, in particular in view of the status of the presumed concerned: two senior magistrates and two police officers, joined later by two other members of the police.
While the Occitan judicial and police communities are beginning to hear of these somewhat embarrassing exchanges, a judicial source reports a “stun effect” in the profession, then adds: “One can only condemn and be shocked by this kind of situation.”
Observation shared by a police source: “It stinks for everyone”, he sniffs, however raising the question of the border with privacy: “Everyone has their own way of life. But when it comes out in the public square, it stains. He thus regrets the “discredit” that such a case throws in his view on the profession, whereas a duty of exemplarity is collectively required, as he remember : “We must be exemplary at all times.”