Mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard appears on Tuesday at the Montpellier court for refusing to marry a man in an irregular situation.
“The only thing we want is to have the right to love each other. I remain a human, I have a heart, and I cannot remove Eva there,” said Mustafa in a letter transmitted to Sunday to Bfmtv. “Since July 7, 2023, our life has collapsed,” said the Algerian who was sent back to his country on July 20. Mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard had refused to celebrate the union between Mustafa, 23, and his young French companion.
“I will not marry someone who has the obligation to leave the territory,” he had justified himself. A point that the lawyer of the Algerian wishes to temper. “We confuse everything: Oqtf, died s and delinquency. Mustapha was under the obligation to leave French territory because of a refusal to issue a residence permit”, she defends with France 3recalling that “the vast majority of foreigners under OQTF are not offenders”. “I hope the judges will understand my cry of distress,” keeps hope Mustafa.
This Tuesday, February 18, Robert Ménard must therefore appear on prior recognition of guilt (CRPC) at the Montpellier court. The councilor upstanding up to five years in prison, a fine of 75,000 euros and an ineligibility sentence, recalls France 3. The chain specifies however that in the context of a procedure in prior recognition of guilt, the duration of imprisonment cannot be more than three years. Nor can she exceed half of the penalty incurred. Robert Ménard thus risks two and a half years in prison, at most.
The law on the point of evolving?
Concretely, the mayor of Béziers is accused of having taken, in the exercise of his functions, “measures intended to defeat the execution of the law, in this case by refusing to proceed to the celebration of this marriage “. Because officially, the law, in accordance with article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, underlines France 3, indeed authorized this union. In 2023, the case having experienced a media impact, this Tuesday, several associations such as SOS Racisme or lovers at Ban Public will be mobilized.
But Robert Ménard can also count on his support. Sunday, the Minister of the Interior himself deplored the situation of “Mayor, concerned about the public order which is found in court, before the judges and not the individual who has entered irregularly”. From Europe 1-The echoes-Cnews, Bruno Retailleau formally supported a bill which wishes to “prohibit a marriage” when one of the spouses is in an irregular situation on French territory. A law that the Senate is due to examine on Thursday.
A law which however seems to be dedicated to failure, to believe the lawyer of the couple. Changing the law “would imply a modification of the French Constitution, Community Law and the European Convention on Human Rights”, at the risk if not to be reached by the Constitutional Council, affirms Me Vanessa Edberg, to France 3.