In total, 87 civil parties, 16 defendants, including the risk prevention deputy of Jean-Claude Gaudin, former mayor of Marseille… A large-scale trial opens in the Marseille capital, this Thursday, November 7. With a major challenge: determining the responsibilities of the multiple actors who led to the death of eight people in the collapses on rue d’Aubagne in November 2018.
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From our correspondent in Marseille,
“ Justice and truth »: these two words are chanted by citizens who came to pay tribute to the eight dead on rue d’Aubagne this Tuesday, November 5. Six years after the collapse of two buildings in the Noailles district, in the heart of Marseille, the need for justice is still strong, as the tragedy could have been avoided.
16,000 legal procedural documents have been added to the trial file which will begin on November 7. Among them, there will be the script of the call to the firefighters from Marie-Emmanuelle Blanc, one of the victims who called at 2:40 a.m., six hours before the tragedy. Noted by the local investigative newspaper Marsactuthis strong testimony shows that the residents had warned the co-ownership association on several occasions. The last night, some slept with the windows open, because the walls had warped, and Marie-Emmanuelle describes “ big ones “cracs”” above his bed.
The trial will focus on four legal or natural persons, mainly indicted for “endangering the lives of others”, “unintentional injuries” and “involuntary homicide”. They face five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros. Among them, there is Julien Ruas, deputy for risk prevention during the last mandate of Jean-Claude Gaudin, the historic mayor of Marseille who lost the 2020 municipal elections partly because of the explosion on rue d ‘Aubagne. According to revelations, the deputy would have minimized reports on the number 65 on several occasions.
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Richard Carta, an expert commissioned by the administrative court, visited number 65 a few weeks before the tragedy, and authorized certain residents to return to their homes. He is also one of those indicted, as are the Liautard firm, trustee in charge of 65, and Marseille Habitat, owner of 63 rue d’Aubagne, an uninhabited building.
High hopes
The expectations for the trial, among the families of the civil parties, are extremely high. The trial will last more than a month, because in addition to the four main defendants, twelve other people will appear, notably owners, at the request of the civil parties’ lawyers. The lawyers’ objective? Have the court rule on the principle “ accommodation contrary to human dignity “. “ If this argument is not recognized there, when are we going to recognize it? », asks Chantal Bourglan, a retired lawyer committed to fighting poor housing. For her, what matters is that “ responsibilities are clearly determined, pronounced, and that the victims are compensated “.
Citizen groups helped gather evidence, convince families to mobilize and support them. For Mélina Foubert, project manager at the association of Compagnons builders Provence, the trial must be known to residents of the neighborhood: “ The November 5 collective launched a major door-to-door campaign, displaying collages, to widely communicate the interest for neighborhood residents and regulars in coming in large numbers to the trial, with the aim of popularizing to report what is going to happen there “.
Trial “ out of the norm »
Hammering out the term “ out of the norm », the public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone, and the president of the criminal court, Olivier Leurent, insisted on the “ symbol » which the case of rue d’Aubagne represents. The shock was such that the number of safety orders – municipal administrative acts signaling the danger that a building represents due to its condition – increased exponentially from 2018, with a thousand procedures underway in Marseille .
After the tragedy on rue d’Aubagne, more than 8,000 Marseillais were evicted due to the risks linked to buildings. The disaster therefore served as a catalyst and, among other things, allowed the 6th chamber of the Marseille judicial court in charge of this issue to double its staff.
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For the public prosecutor of Marseille, in the context of cases linked to substandard housing, it is important to clearly distinguish slumlords from negligent owners. Nicolas Bessone explains that the reality is “ often more complex, some owners do not have the means to carry out work. The real objective is the slumlords », these people who are part of organized networks, sometimes international, and who enrich themselves on the backs of the poorest by renting them unsanitary housing.
Around a hundred journalists, from 40 mainly French media, will also cover the trial, because the problem of substandard housing is national: 600,000 housing units are recorded in France by the Abbé-Pierre Foundation. “ It is not just about the trial in rue d’Aubagne, but about all the problems of substandard housing. We have the right to live with dignity, and that is what we will talk about, I hope, at the trial »insisted a relative of a victim.
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