seven men prosecuted for “organizing a prohibited demonstration”

Seven people will be judged in September in correctional in Niort for the organization of demonstrations prohibited against the “megabasin” of Sainte-Soline on October 29 and March 25, the prosecution announced on Wednesday June 28 in a press release. According to the public prosecutor of Niort Julien Wattebled, six men, “Aged 38 to 46 and claiming membership of the Bassines Non Merci collective, Les Uprisings of the Earth and the Peasant Confederation”had been placed in police custody on Wednesday morning for the organization of the demonstration of March 25, 2023, banned by the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres.

Five of these six men will be summoned before the Niort Criminal Court on September 8 to “organization of demonstration prohibited on the public highway”, added the prosecutor without revealing their identity. The sixth man was released without prosecution. Two other men, representatives of the CGT and the Solidaires union in Deux-Sèvres, “heard in free hearing”are prosecuted for the organization of the demonstration of October 29, 2022 in Sainte-Soline, already banned by the prefecture, against this water reserve project – called “basin” by opponents – intended for agricultural irrigation.

Six months in prison

According to the organizations involved, among the six held in custody were three members of the Uprisings of the Earth, dissolved last week by the government, two of the agricultural union the Confédération paysanne – its former national spokesman Nicolas Girod, and its representative in the Deux-Sèvres Benoît Jaunet, as well as the leader of the collective Bassines non Merci Julien Le Guet. Three of these six people are also prosecuted for the organization of the demonstration of October 29, 2022, according to the prosecutor.

“For these facts, all incur six months of imprisonment”, added the prosecution. As early as Wednesday morning, the Confédération paysanne denounced “outrageous intimidation and repression”while in Rezé (Loire-Atlantique), around thirty people had gathered in front of the gendarmerie to support three summoned activists, who live in the former ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, noted a correspondent from AFP.