Involved in a violent road accident in Reunion Island, on the night of Friday to Saturday August 24, and referred to the Saint-Denis criminal court for several serious road traffic offences, Reunion MP Jean-Hugues Ratenon (La France insoumise) denounces a “media exploitation for an attempt at political killing.”
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The elected official accuses local authorities of leaking information, published Wednesday by The Chained Duck. According to the satirical weekly, Mr. Ratenon refused, saying he was protected by his parliamentary immunity, to submit to police checks to verify whether he had consumed alcohol and drugs. A mandatory procedure in the event of an accident. Jean-Hugues Ratenon denies this and says he “totally scandalized by the pseudo-information that has appeared”, communicated, Wednesday 28, the office of the deputy, who wonders: “Who feeds The Chained Duck and for what purpose?
The accident occurred shortly after midnight, on a four-lane national road. The MP’s car was hit from behind by a motorist who was driving at an estimated speed of 70 km/h, according to the police. She was unable to avoid the MP’s vehicle, which was dangerously in the right lane, with all lights off. After the collision, the driver, who was slightly injured, said she found Jean-Hugues Ratenon asleep at the wheel of his car.
A week after the collision, the preliminary investigation conducted by the motorcycle squadron of the La Réunion gendarmerie points to the responsibilities of the MP. According to the procedure, Jean-Hugues Ratenon did indeed refuse the breathalyzer and saliva samples, as well as the blood test requested by the gendarmes upon requisition, but never invoked his parliamentary immunity.
“I have an 86-year-old mother and children”
According to the elected official, it is because he was “in shock” of the accident and that he does not “didn’t feel well” that he did not want to submit to the controls. A judicial source indicates that the deputy had “confused, eruptive and contemptuous behavior” in front of the police officers who questioned him while he was in the emergency room. The latter, as well as the doctor on duty, noted that the elected official showed symptoms of significant alcohol consumption.
Jean-Hugues Ratenon left the emergency department of the Saint-Denis University Hospital during the night and was taken care of by one of his colleagues. Contacted by telephone, Jean-Hugues Ratenon denied having drunk that evening. “I had taken four tablets for high blood pressure and these medications are not compatible with alcohol”he says to Monde. According to him, it is “a feeling of unease, perhaps linked to [son] hypertension », who caused the accident.
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