The lawyers of the main defendants in the fatal collapses on rue d’Aubagne in Marseille pleaded Monday and Tuesday for acquittal, placing the responsibility on those absent from the trial.
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After the requisitions on December 12, this Tuesday, December 17 was the second day devoted to the defense’s pleadings, in this trial of the collapses of rue d’Aubagne, which left eight people dead on November 5, 2018. The lawyers of the main defendants pleaded for acquittal, passing the buck or blaming those absent from the trial.
>> Rue d’Aubagne trial: three years in prison required against a former deputy of Marseille town hall
“The court is not a forum, it does not deal with substandard housing“, began to argue Mr. Christophe Bass, the lawyer for the trustee of 65 rue d’Aubagne, which collapsed on November 5, 2018, killing eight people.
For him, the Liautard cabinet “did his job even if his proposals were rejected by the co-owners“.
According to Mr. Pierre Ceccaldi, it is “a heresy“for having prosecuted co-owners of 65 rue d’Aubagne who had not been prosecuted during the investigation, but were summoned to appear in court by civil parties. For the lawyer, it was done “trial of intent“on an alleged”lure of gain” of his client, Xavier Cachard, owner, lawyer for the trustee and also at the time, regional elected official. He certainly didn’t “expressed his feelingss” during the seven weeks of hearing, but it is by “modesty”defended Me Pierre Ceccaldi, believing that there was “Nothing” to condemn him.
The prosecutor had, however, requested the heaviest sentence for him, namely five years in prison, three of which were closed, estimating that the co-owners had “knowledge of structural problems“, but that they had “played the watch” pour “spend as late as possible and as little as possible“.
Concerning the architect Richard Carta, who had appraised the building less than three weeks before its collapse, an acquittal was also requested by his lawyers who confided that the required sentence (three years including two prison terms) “stunned“Me Cyril Gosset was surprised that his client was being prosecuted and not the other expert, Reynald Filipputti, who had benefited from a dismissal of the case.”even though he had known the building for four years“.
His other Parisian lawyer, Me Cyrille Charbonneau, insisted on the role of the legal expert which is not, he said, to put an end to the danger of a building, but to the imminence of a danger. Certainly, he did not propose to evacuate all the tenants, but in all cases, it is the town hall which has the decision-making power.
This Wednesday, the defense of Julien Ruas, who was precisely the deputy mayor responsible for these issues at the town hall then headed by Jean-Claude Gaudin, must plead. The defendants will have the floor one last time.
The decision of the criminal court will be reserved.
