QUATENNENS. He had been preparing his return to the Assembly for several weeks. Adrien Quatennens must now deal with the new revelations made by his wife. They strongly compromise his return.
[Mis à jour le 23 novembre 2022 à 19h05] New revelations in the Quatennens affair cast shame on the deputy La France insoumise this Wednesday, November 23. In a press release, his ex-companion, Céline Quatennens, denounced “moral and physical violence” for “several years”. New revelations which risk greatly compromising the return of Adrien Quatennens to the National Assembly, while the deputy LFI, who had retired from political life after admitting to having slapped his ex-companion in last September, had been preparing for several weeks for its return “by the end of the month”, according to the confidences of politicians in franceinfo.
Question: Will Adrien Quatennens be able to return to the National Assembly? The LFI deputy clearly denied, at the end of the afternoon, Wednesday, November 23, through his lawyer, Jade Dousselin, these declarations, affirming that these “intervene within the framework of the tense negotiations on the occasion of her divorce and disagreements over the financial arrangements and custody of their child”, also ensuring that “no fact of repeated violence or harassment, mentioned this morning by Céline Quatennens, has been retained by the prosecution” and denouncing “false accusations”. But the damage seems already done.
“The return of Adrien Quatennens to our benches is now impossible”, judged the boss and deputy of the PS Olivier Faure on Twitter. A position also defended by the elected environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau and other deputies of the Nupes who call to hear the testimony of the wife of the elected LFI of the North. Politicians are more discreet in the ranks of LFI, but certain voices are heard, such as that of Raquel Garrido, who judges this Wednesday on BFM TV : “He’s not here and it’s good that he’s not here.” Should we understand that even within LFI the return of Adrien Quatennens is frowned upon? Clémentine Autain, another elected LFI from Seine-Saint-Denis, wants her colleague’s future to be discussed taking into account the words of the two people involved: “We must be fair and audible.”
This new twist in the Quatennens case comes just two days after the announcement of the summons of the elected official to the Lille court on December 13 for an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC). Adrien Quatennens has agreed to comply with the guilty plea procedure, lawyer Me Jade Dousselin said in a communicated released Monday, November 21.
New revelations in the Quatennens case
These are revelations that again overwhelm Adrien Quatennens. On Wednesday November 23, the wife of the deputy from the North published a press release in which she returned to the facts of “moral and physical violence” that she would have suffered within her relationship with the elected official for “several years”. She evokes “angers” and “crises” because of which she “wanted a divorce three times” yet “each time under pressure I went back”, adds the Quatennens wife in her text. While these statements two months after the start of the affair and after the elected official is recognized to have slapped his wife, Céline Quatennens justifies her speaking out: “To the statements of Mr. Quatennens arguing in the media ‘a single slap in a context of extreme tension and mutual aggressiveness’, I cannot remain silent in the face of comments that I consider to be untrue”. She adds to express herself “against her will” in order to “rebalance things”: “It is unpleasant to me that my husband minimizes the facts publicly by discrediting my person”.
The revelations have the effect of new shocks in the Quatennens affair, in particular when the elected official has agreed to go to the Lille court for a plea procedure and is preparing his return to the National Assembly. A return which is no longer so obvious in the ranks of Nupes, since several elected officials from the PS or EELV have spoken out against the reinstatement of Adrien Quatennens within the hemicycle.
In mid-November, the question had already arisen. Does Adrien Quatennens have the right to return to sit in the National Assembly? While the Quatennens affair still arouses strong reactions, it seems that nothing, at least legally, opposes his return to the Bourbon palace. In any case, this is what the majority has tried to remember, from the President of the Assembly to the government spokesperson, including the Minister of Public Accounts. On LCI, on November 14, Gabriel Attal had thus assured: “He has the right to return to the Assembly. […] Nothing legally prevents him from doing so, it is a question of a political signal that is desired, in a context where he has recognized a certain number of facts.” And the minister summed up: “It is up to him and his group policy to decide whether the signal that is sent is a problem or not and how it should return.”
Same story on the side of the President of the National Assembly. On Radio J, Yaël Braun-Pivet, had indicated in mid-November that “today nothing prevents him from returning to sit on the benches of the National Assembly”. In the absence of conviction, Adrien Quatennens can quite return. On November 13, on the set of BFM Politique, the government spokesperson, Olivier Véran, also went in this direction. Adrien Quatennens “is not ineligible today”, he noted, stressing nevertheless that the behavior of the LFI deputy “disqualifies” him in political debate and public life.
Regarding the slap that Adrien Quatennens admitted to having committed against his ex-wife, there are several types in the law. First there is the slap being considered “simple”, “like light violence”. It is defined by article R 624-1 of the Penal Code, which regulates intentional violence that has not resulted in total incapacity for work. It is sanctioned with a maximum fine of 750 euros. But a slap can also be qualified as “more or less aggravating voluntary violence”, this assessment being evaluated according to the number of ITT (more or less than eight days).
Thus, violence resulting in an ITT of less than or equal to eight days (even 0) is punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros when committed against a spouse. Violence resulting in an ITT for more than eight days is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros when committed against a spouse. Regarding the text messages sent by Adrien Quatennens to his ex-wife after their separation, it is difficult to establish whether they will be the subject of a legal penalty because the offense of “harassment” has not been brought against him. , and that “the absence of malicious character had already been recognized”, as indicated by his lawyer in a press release.
1. A handrail and recognized acts of violence
The Quatennens affair began on September 13, with the publication of an article by Chained Duck referring to the filing of a handrail performed a few weeks earlier by Céline Quatennens. The Quatennens couple had then published a press release the same day, regretting having learned “by voice of lawyers” that the prosecution had taken up the facts.
On September 18, Adrien Quatennens published a new press release, in which he admitted to acts of violence, “in the context of a conflicting divorce”. He then, in the process, withdrew from his function as coordinator of La France Insoumise. He had notably admitted having “gave a slap” to his wife, “a year ago”, “in a context of extreme tension and mutual aggressiveness”, claiming to have “deeply regretted this gesture”.
2. Judicial investigation into Adrien Quatennens
And as one could logically expect, the prosecution took legal action in the case by requesting the launch of an investigation. The prosecution regularly decides to obtain clarification from an investigation when it comes to a family dispute to ensure that the desire not to file a complaint is real and that there is no situation of psychological influence. It’s even the procedure to follow by police officers in the event of suspicion of domestic violence. And this, even if the two people making up the couple expressly ask that there is no legal action.
3. New handrail by Céline Quatennens
A new handrail was then filed by Céline Quatennens for harassment by SMS. Jade Dousselin, the lawyer of the deputy LFI, then specified in a press release sent to the Parisian that this new daybook “limits itself to evoking SMS transmitted by my client within the framework of their separation”, which “contain no message of a malicious or threatening nature”.
4. Adrien Quatennens heard by the investigators, his ex-wife files a complaint
Adrien Quatennens was heard by investigators, as reported franceinfo Saturday October 1. The lawyer of the LFI deputy indicated that his client had been heard, on September 26, at the Lille police station, in the investigation for domestic violence which targets him. According to information from JDD, Adrien Quatennens was heard in an open hearing. The parliamentarian admitted to investigators that he slapped Céline Quatennens in 2021, squeezed her wrist on August 28 and injured her elbow on September 2. Adrien Quatennens also admitted to having sent many messages to his wife, but indicated, according to information from BFM TVhaving stopped writing to him, after a request made on September 23.
On September 26, his ex-wife Céline Quatennens decided to file a complaint against him, according to information reported by Latest news from Alsace the 3rd of October. The entourage of Adrien Quatennens explained that she “returned to the police station on September 26 to say that she wanted to change her two handrails into a complaint”, before specifying that this complaint “concerns the same facts”.
5. Adrien Quatennens summoned to the Lille court
Adrien Quatennens, through his lawyer Jade Dousselin, indicated on Monday November 21 that he accepted the guilty plea procedure and his summons to the Lille court on December 13, 2022 for an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC) . The facts retained against the deputy of the North by the parquet floor of Lille are the slap in the face to his former wife of which Adrien Quatennens admitted being guilty, but also the large quantity of SMS which he sent to her after their separation. The lawyer recalled that the slap had taken place “more than a year ago in a context already mentioned of mutual aggressiveness”. As for the SMS, she repeated that “the absence of malicious character had already been recognized”.
The CRPC is a simplified procedure that is offered to persons who have committed minor offenses who have admitted the facts of which they are accused. As explained BFM TV, Adrien Quatennens will be offered a legal sentence on December 13 in response to the facts he admitted to having committed. If he accepts it, it will then be sent to a judge for approval. In the event of refusal by the LFI deputy, he will be summoned before the Lille Criminal Court on March 24, 2023.
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Adrien Quatennens has always remained very discreet about his private life, never appearing publicly as a couple. However, the LFI deputy from the North is well married, to a woman named Céline. But the couple is therefore in the process of divorce, as he announced in a press release. Never mentioned in the portraits devoted to the rebellious thirty-something, she therefore seems to prefer the shadows. Together, the couple have a daughter, as it was echoed The voice of the North.