2023-10-23 17:58:53
A 37-year-old man was sentenced Monday October 23 to eight months’ suspended imprisonment for provoking the evacuation of the Palace of Versailles by issuing a false bomb threat. “I’m sorry, sorry for the people and the castle”, muttered Monday, at the end of the immediate appearance hearing, before the criminal court of Versailles, this man being followed for schizophrenia. He was arrested on Friday, the day after his false alarm.
While bomb threats have multiplied in airports and public places in France since the Arras attack on October 13, the Palace of Versailles has been particularly targeted, with seven false alarms and as many evacuations in nine days. The castle’s lawyer, Me Cyrille Mayoux, affirmed that the damage caused to the establishment for Thursday’s evacuation was not yet quantifiable, even if he mentioned “an order of magnitude of 100,000 to 150,000 euros”. He requested a civil referral to assess the damages.
The defendant admitted to having made a telephone call on Thursday, after seeing the news channels relaying the previous evacuations from the castle, and to having declared to an operator: “The throne of Louis XIV is going to jump. See you. Evacuate ». The castle had been evacuated in the wake of around 11,000 visitors present at the time of the alert.
Read also: Most false bomb threats in French airports sent from “same email address” from Switzerland, says Minister Clément Beaune
“He’s someone fragile, sick”
A psychiatric assessment assessed that the defendant, a schizophrenic with paranoid tendencies who claimed not to have taken his treatment that day, could be tried. “He didn’t think for two seconds about the media issue, about Arras and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He’s someone fragile, sick”, argued his lawyer, Me Mandine Blondin, in front of journalists after the hearing. In fact, after his call from his father’s phone, he answered when the police called him back, even though he refused to give his identity.
His probationary suspension is accompanied by an obligation to provide psychiatric care and an obligation to compensate the establishment. The lawyer indicated that her client was ” relieved “. The latter assured that he would start putting money aside to be able to compensate the castle. A new hearing to decide the amount of damages has been set for February 26, 2024. The other alerts targeting the palace were placed online on a government site and are more difficult to trace.
#man #sentenced #months #prison