Robert Pantel, the Mendois “crow”, definitively convicted of racial insult and forgery in private writing

It is the epilogue of a legal drama which lasted more than thirty months. Robert Pantel, the Mende “crow”, author of a series of infamous anonymous letters to various personalities in Mende, has exhausted all avenues of appeal after the rejection of his appeal by the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation, in a judgment rendered dated October 22, 2024.

Robert Pantel, the father of Sophie Pantel, president of the Lozère departmental council at the time of the events and current deputy for the only constituency of this same department, was investigated by the courts for racial insults and forgery in private writing .

Reproduction of the court letter

“A little kid sold crap in town then suddenly became a sweeper at Antirust, then director of Antirust, today head of department at town hall! His wife is none other than Régine's sister (Bourgade, former first deputy and now mayor of Mende, Editor's note) ! To progress at town hall, go see Régine!” he notably wrote, in his last letter sent on March 18, 2022, “denigrating the mayor of Mende and various local personalities”, as the Court of Cassation reiterated in its judgment.

The septuagenarian had also reproduced the letterhead of the Mende judicial court in order to scare his bodybuilder neighbor, whom he blamed for numerous nuisances.

€1,500 suspended fine

For these two facts, on February 2, 2023, the Mende criminal court sentenced him to a fine of €1,500 accompanied by a total suspension. He also ruled on civil interests, awarding €500 in damages to the municipal agent (plus €800 under article 475-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) and €1,000 in damages to the bodybuilder (plus €800 under article 475-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Initially, Robert Pantel was also accused of defamation. However, at first instance, his lawyer from the Nîmes bar, M^e Sylvie Josserand (now National Rally deputy for the sixth constituency of Gard, Editor's note), had obtained an end to the prosecution for this offense. The limitation period for the facts, lasting three months, had been recorded.

Defense of Sylvie Josserand

The public prosecutor, represented by Vincent Blériot, former public prosecutor, recognized its responsibility and apologized to the victims. And there were many of them: Aurélie Maillols, regional and municipal councilor; Laurent Suau, at the time mayor of the city and first vice-president of the Department (currently president of the Department, Editor's note); Régine Bourgade; Stéphanie Maurin, municipal councilor and executive at Lozère Hospital…

During this first public hearing, the Gard lawyer also defended her client to the extreme. For her, the term “negrillon” was part of the heritage of French literature, since authors like Gustave Flaubert, Claude Lévi-Strauss but also Marcel Pagnol, used it in their works.

Tensions between Laurent Suau and Sophie Pantel

On December 14, 2023, the Nîmes Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment rendered by the Mende criminal court. It was at the end of this first judgment that Robert Pantel appealed to the Court of Cassation.

In 2022, the so-called “crow” had particularly agitated the political Landerneau of Mendo and Lozère. This episode had notably accentuated the already very strong tensions between Laurent Suau and Sophie Pantel. The latter had even sent an email to her former departmental majority to give her point of view on the affair She assured in particular that “the relentlessness” towards his person was going “move on [son] father who certainly messed up but who is sick and far from what he was.”