2023-12-07 05:40:25
A man was sentenced Wednesday to eight months in prison for “insults” against the mayor of Romans-sur-Isère Marie-Hélène Thoraval, the subject of threats after her comments linked to the death of young Thomas, the Valencia prosecutor’s office told AFP.
Arrested in Marseille at the beginning of the week, the man born in 1990 was sentenced in immediate appearance by the criminal court of Valence in Drôme for “insults by words or threats” against the city councilor and was imprisoned in the stride. He must also pay 1,300 euros to Marie-Hélène Thoraval.
She said she received threats “in two stages”
Seven days earlier, the mayor of Romans-sur-Isère, where young Thomas, killed with a knife during a village ball in mid-November, attended high school, had filed a complaint after receiving threats by telephone and on the social networks, including one of death “by decapitation”, according to the councilor.
These threats were made in a tense context in the department and in France when the death of the teenager had sparked a political controversy, an ultra-right demonstration had degenerated in Romans-sur-Isère and the authorities were increasing calls for calm. Marie-Hélène Thoraval said she received threats “in two stages”, first two anonymous calls to the town hall and messages.
The man, “recipient of a disabled adult allowance” and already convicted on multiple occasions, asked in particular: “does the mayor have a kalash at home? You heard her on the radio, she’s a fascist. Does she have Arab bodyguards? »
The accused denied the facts
It is for these facts that the native of Pas-de-Calais appeared before the court. However, he was acquitted of the charges of “malicious telephone calls”. In police custody and in court he disputed the facts, claiming that someone else had used his phone.
The mayor also indicated that she had received threats a second time at the beginning of the afternoon, on her Instagram account, with “a death threat telling me that I was going to be decapitated and that my skull would be juggled” , she added.
On this subject, the prosecution indicated that if first “the investigation also focused on elements of death threats on Instagram, the response times of this social media to legal requisitions did not allow” to incriminate the individual during the time of police custody. A separate investigation continues.
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