Three aggravating circumstances were selected according to the prosecution: “violence in meeting”, “arrest and sequestration”, and “administration of substances”.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
He had condemned Monsanto after being intoxicated by a herbicide. Charente farmer Paul François was violently attacked at his home on January 30, and the Angoulême prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Friday, February 10. Three aggravating circumstances were retained by the prosecution: “violence in meeting”, “arrest and sequestration”, and “administration of substances”.
According to M e François Lafforgue, Mr. François’s lawyer, the latter was tied up by three people after receiving blows, while he was in his garage, in Bernac , north of Angoulême. According to La Charente Libre and e lafforgue.
The attackers would then have fled when lights were lit outside the home. The gendarmes, who went there, work to identify potential suspects.
The lawyer claims to consider “seriously to file a complaint, but the urgency was that he comes out of this traumatic episode”. “We ask that the investigation be carried out as quickly as possible, to find the culprits as soon as possible,” he added. The spokesperson for the Confédération Paysanne, Nicolas Girod, expressed his “support” to Paul François “who has long been undergoing enormous pressures and now is attacked” and has called for strengthening his protection.
Total support for Paul François who has long been undergoing enormous pressures and now is attacked.
Stop!
S… https://t.co/0uadk1f2ya
The farmer is known for his legal fight which had led to the condemnation, in 2019, of the Agrochemical Monsanto group, bought by the German Bayer. Paul François had been hospitalized after being intoxicated by the herbicide Lasso. Monsanto was recognized as responsible for having marketed “defective products”.
Justice had considered that the agrochemical group should have reported the specific danger caused by the use of the product in the event of work in tanks, but had not spoken on the very toxicity of the lasso. The Charente Cerealier of 58 years was to receive just over 11,000 euros in compensation.