The former mayor (LR) of Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), Raphaël Cognet was attacked in the Val Fourré district, at the end of the afternoon last Thursday. He was on the move as part of his election campaign, ten days before a municipal by-election.
It was around 6:30 p.m. that Raphaël Cognet was violently beaten by three individuals, while he was in a district of the city, as revealed by a source familiar with the matter.
Raphaël Cognet filed a complaint for willful violence just after the facts, detailed the Versailles prosecutor’s office to AFP.
According to the elements of the investigation, the former mayor was sprayed by a fire extinguisher. He also confirmed this information through his Twitter account the day after the event.
Raphaël Cognet reacted on Twitter
He thus claimed to have “been the victim of an attack”. “Some young people fell on me as I was leaving a building, they emptied a fire extinguisher in my face and beat me violently,” he said. An act he also described as “cowardly” and which only strengthened his determination.
My reaction to my assault yesterday.
Thank you all for your many messages of support. They really touched me.
My determination and that of my team is total!
I won’t let go.#Mantes la Jolie #elections pic.twitter.com/nGId1yVFOH
— Raphaël COGNET (@raphaelcognet) May 6, 2022
If the former mayor however admitted that he was “obviously a little shocked”, he insists however on the fact that if the purpose of this act was to intimidate him, this one “is missed”.
Lucid, the candidate for the municipality added “not to confuse three people who attack an elected official of the Republic, with the vast majority of the population of Val Fourré who wants to live in peace and in complete safety”.
Elected in this city of Yvelines since 2017, Raphaël Cognet had resigned at the beginning of this year. He is finally a candidate for the partial municipal election, which will be held in Mantes-la-Jolie on May 15 and 22.