Three deputies from La France insoumise took legal action on Monday to denounce the refusal of the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, to celebrate the marriage between a Frenchwoman and an Algerian national in an irregular situation, who has since been expelled. The three deputies, Sylvain Carrière and Nathalie Oziol (Hérault) and Andrée Taurinya (Loire), and René Révol, the mayor of Grabels, in the agglomeration of Montpellier, a close friend of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, “reported” this decision of the former close friend of Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour on Sunday in a letter addressed to the prosecutor of Béziers Raphaël Balland. On July 7, Robert Ménard had refused to marry a 23-year-old Algerian and his 29-year-old companion, suspecting a “white marriage” despite the green light given to this union by the Béziers prosecutor’s office.
“I persist and sign: I will not marry someone who has an obligation to leave the territory. I enforce common sense and an even more imperative right: I do not marry someone who should not be in front of me but be in the country where he is currently, “reacted Monday Robert Ménard, interviewed by AFP. “The city councilor justifies (his decision) by illegal considerations according to which a foreigner (…) could not contract a marriage since he does not have a residence permit in good and due form”, estimate for their part the elected representatives of the left, by considering “not acceptable (…) that an elected person decides knowingly to place himself outside the law and to discriminate among his constituents because of their nationality”.
“Unfavorably known to the police”
They specify that they have taken legal action under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that “any constituted authority, any public officer or civil servant who, in the exercise of his functions, acquires knowledge of a crime or misdemeanor is required to give notice without delay to the public prosecutor”. The latter then assesses the follow-up to be given to the case. The Béziers prosecutor told AFP that he had sent this report to the Montpellier prosecutor, Fabrice Bélargent, for the sake of impartiality. He added that the couple concerned and SOS Racisme had already filed a complaint.
“Unfavorably known to the police and subject to an obligation to leave French territory since August 2022”, the young Algerian had been expelled on July 20 for Algeria, according to the prefecture of Hérault.