The outgoing MP for the 5th constituency of Gironde (ex-LREM), Benoit Simianafter having been largely defeated in the legislative elections on June 19, was sentenced on Thursday to an eight-month suspended prison sentence by the Bordeaux Criminal Court, for acts of moral harassment against his ex-companion. A sentence of eighteen months in prison with a probationary suspension of three years had been requested on March 25 by the Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic Rachel Bray.
During the hearing, the Deputy Prosecutor recalled that “there were multiple complaints [de son épouse] from the summer of 2020, for damage, home invasions, thefts… Multiple interventions by the police”. The facts took place between July and November 2020 and during the summer, the justice decided on a protection order which prohibits Benoît Simian from coming to his former home. His ex-wife is also equipped with a “serious danger telephone”.
The deputy prosecutor had also requested three years of ineligibility but the court did not accept this request, considering that the facts have no connection with her former mandate. Benoît Simian has ten days to appeal the decision.
In addition to this file, Benoît Simian is also accused by an employee of having forced her to sleep in the same room as him and of having multiplied the intimate messages at the end of 2020-beginning of 2021. The Bordeaux prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.