The LFI deputy from the North, Adrien Quatennens, was sentenced Tuesday in Lille in a plea-guilty procedure to 4 months in prison suspended for “violence” on his wife, as well as repeated text messages in the context of their separation. The deputy, in blue jeans and a black puffer jacket, is convicted of “violence without incapacity committed by a spouse” between October and December 2021, as well as for “regular and malicious sending of messages” to his wife, by SMS and WhatsApp, between August and September 2022.
Two facts retained by the prosecution
His lawyer, Me Jade Dousselin, had affirmed that two facts had been retained by the prosecution: a slap inflicted on his wife “more than a year ago” in a context of “mutual aggressiveness”, as well as text messages sent after the separation of the couple and “whose absence of malevolent character” has “been recognized”. He will also have to pay 2,000 euros in damages for non-pecuniary damage.
This sentence was proposed Tuesday morning by the public prosecutor of Lille to Adrien Quatennens, who accepted it. It was then publicly approved by a judge, after a closed session to “ensure respect for the private and intimate life of people” as well as the “serenity of the debates”. His wife Céline was present in the courtroom, accompanied by a lawyer.
Return or not of the former number 2 in the hemicycle
The sentence now known, raises the question of the return or not of the former number 2 of LFI in the hemicycle, as well as his place within the parliamentary group. He remains for the moment excluded from the activities of his group. “The subject on which we are thinking is what are the conditions, what are the terms of a possible return”, declared Monday on France Inter the deputy LFI of Bouches-du-Rhône, Manuel Bompard, who must soon take the head of the new coordination of LFI, after the withdrawal of Adrien Quatennens.
“Nobody” within the parliamentary group considers that a “return is impossible”, he assured, when his party is immersed in internal quarrels over its leadership.
Call for resignation
The LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Clémentine Autain had insisted on Monday in Liberation on the need to “take seriously the word of Céline Quatennens”, but also to “worry about the rehabilitation of Adrien Quatennens, a subject often evaded”. The person concerned, he “intends to return”, but he will comply with the “conditions submitted by the group”, his entourage said on Monday. Socialist and environmentalist allies of LFI have called for the resignation of the deputy.
Judged in appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC or “plead-guilty”), Adrien Quatennens arrived at the court around 8:30 a.m. through a back door, avoiding the journalists massed in front of the main entrance, as well as four activists from the feminist collective #NousToutes, purple armband on the arm, present outside to demand his resignation.
A dozen elected officials and LFI activists also gathered in the freezing cold to support him. “We can’t compare it to people who beat up their wives, who put GHB in glasses,” the LFI mayor of Faches-Thumesnil, Patrick Proisy, told AFP. “We hope he comes back. We can’t do without a speaker like Adrien Quatennens in the fight that is preparing for pensions,” he added.
Engaged in conflicting divorce proceedings, Adrien Quatennens has not spoken since the revelation of the affair in mid-September in Le Canard enchaîné, apart from a long press release on Twitter to announce his withdrawal from the post of LFI coordinator. .
His wife Céline, who filed a complaint in September after first filing two handrails, denounced two months later in a press release to AFP the “physical and psychological violence” exerted for “several years” by her husband, evoking “his anger” and “his crises”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had initially shown his support for his foal, provoking the ire of feminist activists and a crisis at LFI, has not spoken since.