The verdict is expected this Tuesday, December 14 for a network of diggers and transporters accused of having dumped hundreds of thousands of tonnes of polluted rubble on the Côte d’Azur between 2017 and 2020. The hearing was held at the end of November in Criminal court of Draguignan, in the Var. The public prosecutor requested up to 5 years in prison, 3 of which were suspended, fines of up to 500,000 euros as well as deposits of sums of up to 500,000 euros, intended for the rehabilitation of the land. Because the damage is very important, the depollution of the 22 sites concerned was estimated between 5 and 6 million euros.
A truly “ waste mafia “,” environmental criminals “. The prosecution did not mince its words to designate the 17 defendants, including 7 companies, accused of having dumped hundreds of thousands of tonnes of polluted rubble in the wilderness.
Today, some sites are irreparably soiled and disfigured by waste mixed with bitumen and plastic, even mercury, arsenic or lead.
Death threats
Their technique was simple: to offer free deliveries of topsoil to individuals, via classified ads on the internet. Then disembark with sometimes hundreds of heavy goods vehicles to dump waste from construction sites, transforming the land into an open dump. One owner who tried to protest even claimed to have been threatened with death.
Without really denying the facts, the defendants for their part blamed the large construction companies, absent from the trial, and who could not ignore their methods, according to them, to get rid of the waste from their sites.
If this affair is remarkable for its scale, illegal deposits are not rare in the region. Other files are in the hands of investigators and justice.
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