A law professor at the University of Haute-Alsace (UHA) in Mulhouse in the Haut-Rhin was given a one-year suspended prison sentence on Monday for sexual harassment after remarks made in class that had shocked students, learned AFP with the lawyer for the civil parties. The Mulhouse criminal court also imposed on Bertrand Pauvert, lecturer in public law, a three-year ban on teaching, Me Rayan Zaien, lawyer for the two student civil parties in this case, told AFP, alongside from the UHA.
Also sentenced to a three-year ban on teaching
Aged 51, Bertrand Pauvert, is also a municipal councilor for Mulhouse, elected in 2020 on a list led by the RN Christelle Ritz, and also sits on the agglomeration council. In March, he joined the Reconquête! Éric Zemmour, then candidate for the presidency of the Republic, as local coordinator.
Already suspended on a provisional basis since last October, he appeared on June 9 for sexual harassment and violence that did not result in incapacity for work. The public prosecutor then requested eighteen months in prison, including six firm, as well as a three-year ban on teaching, according to Rayan Zaien.
The defense lawyer, Me Jonathan Muré, told the regional daily Alsace his intention to appeal. Asked by AFP, he had not reacted at the start of the afternoon. “My two clients are satisfied with the judgment which recognizes their status as victims,” said Mr. Zaien. They obtained a symbolic euro in damages, in the same way as the University, he specified.
Inappropriate attitudes towards female students
The affair broke out last October, when several students had denounced to the University, with supporting recordings, “sexist, denigrating remarks” and “attitudes, during the sessions dedicated to the courses, characteristics according to them of harassment towards them”, recounted Alsace.
Among the facts mentioned: in 2018, Bertrand Pauvert would have brought down a student on the stage to simulate sodomy, meaning according to him “the attitude of Europe towards France”, reported the newspaper. In the event of rape, he also advised female students to “take pleasure” and “not to add to it”.