UDC Yverdon: Suspended prison sentence for Christophe Loperetti

– Suspended prison sentence for UDC president Yverdon

Although he admits to having served as an intermediary to obtain around forty false certificates, Christophe Loperetti says he acted against discrimination. He appeals.

Published today at 6:59 p.m.

Christophe Loperetti was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 months in prison with a 2-year suspended sentence for forgery of securities.

Patrick Martin

Whether he acted out of a libertarian ideal against the Covid measures or out of simple greed, it will not have paid off. Christophe Loperetti was sentenced, this Wednesday, by the Criminal Court of Broye and Nord Vaudois to 15 months in prison with a 2-year suspended sentence for forgery of securities and, with the same suspended sentence, to a 60-day fine for driving while intoxicated and 30 day fine for mistreatment of animals (read box). He still owes a debt of 3,000 francs to the State of Vaud. The thirty-year-old has decided to appeal.

Christophe Loperetti had to answer for mistreatment inflicted on two horses suffering from health problems, which he said he “emergencyly saved from butchery” and parked in Grandson. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they regularly lacked water and fodder, one showing this deprivation by hitting the trough.

The police intervened three times in November 2022 for their escape from the poorly fenced area, noting in the process that they were being held in “deplorable conditions”.

Denials from Christophe Loperetti, who claims to have had problems with the owner to arrange the place, but came daily to feed the horses, whose mare, suffering from colic, had to be rationed.

“I wanted to give them a new life. I made the mistake of picking them up without thinking, but I did everything I could to make sure they were good,” he maintained. Due to lack of space, the aggressive horse was euthanized, as was, a few months later, the mare, because it was overfed by the person in charge of it.

In 2022, the police’s analysis of the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging of the current UDC president Yverdon made it possible to identify the sale of 49 falsified Covid passes, purchased in 2021 from a contact in France. The one who is also a municipal councilor in the spa town had resold them for between 350 and 450 francs.

In his indictment, prosecutor Christian Maire estimates that the defendant “engaged in significant trafficking in false Covid-19 vaccination certificates, thus allowing the beneficiaries of these false titles, who are not vaccinated, to illicitly obtain the advantages linked to holding such a document.

“Essential link”

An opinion followed by the Court against this “essential link” of trafficking, assuming to be dealing with “the tip of the iceberg”. The prosecutor estimated the benefit at 3,000 francs, linking the very difficult financial situation of the almost 37-year-old defendant.

“This is absolutely false. I did not acquire a car or change my lifestyle,” defended Christophe Loperetti, who admits to having organized the trafficking. “I saw people deprived of their fundamental rights, no longer able to work, study or drink coffee because they refused to inject themselves with an experimental vaccine. It was a period of collective hysteria,” he explained, paraphrasing former federal councilor Ueli Maurer.

“Were you aware of the illegality of the process? It resembles certain types of trafficking that we judge here,” the president of the court, Donovan Tésaury, told him, citing the “mowers” that were ordered from him in coded language. “At the time, it seemed less serious to me than what was happening with this discrimination,” retorts the defendant, whose own falsified vaccination passport was of no use, since he quickly contracted Covid.

Dramatic consequences

Christophe Loperetti ends up admitting: “I would have preferred not to break the law. This had dramatic consequences on my professional life. I lost mandates as a social educator following press articles.”

“You are dealing with a trafficker who acted out of greed and disregard for public health. He adopted the same attitude as a drug trafficker,” compared the prosecutor. He requested a custodial sentence of 19 months suspended for 3 years.

Master David Vaucher (left), defender of Christophe Loperetti.
Patrick Martin

“Because he is a disruptive politician, because he is a friend of a troublemaker from the UDC, this leads to relentlessness,” argued Mr.^e David Vaucher, for whom his client is “a philanthropist” who deserves acquittal and did not himself make the forgeries. He cited as an example the release of the Lausanne UDC municipal councilor Patrizia Mori, holder of one of the passes.

The vast majority of buyers are relatives and political connections of the UDC municipal representative or his friend and roommate Ruben Ramchurn. The latter opposed the criminal order handed down in December in the same matter. The long list of clients includes the Valais UDC deputy Jérôme Desmeules or the writer and teacher Frédéric Vallotton, ex-member of the UDC. Heard on Monday, he denied any order and his supplier spoke of a gift.

This affair tarnishes the image of the UDC section of Yverdon. In the event of a definitive conviction of its president, recently reappointed, there is no doubt that political reactions will be heard.

Fabien Lapierre has been a 24-hour journalist since 2022, for the Vaud & Régions section. Based in Yverdon, it mainly covers news from Northern Vaud. Graduated from the Lille School of Journalism in 2010, he worked for television, behind and in front of the camera.More informations @fabienlapierre

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