They brandish radiator invoices, window delivery notes. They detail the renovation of their apartment and swear that, if they had known, they would have removed their tenant from a building that had been on hold since mid-October 2018 and was doomed to inevitable collapse. In short, they claim that they are not slumlords.
The landlords of four of the ten small studios at 65, rue d'Aubagne, in Marseille, are the defendants in the last hour of the trial of the deadly collapses of November 5, 2018, cited before the criminal court by civil parties, rescued occupants or relatives of one of the eight victims. They must answer for involuntary manslaughter, endangerment or submission to unworthy accommodation conditions.
A plumber, a retired art historian and lecturer, a former professor and a lawyer who was also vice-president (Les Républicains) of the regional council thus see their inaction called into question while their tenants raised the alarm …in the desert. “Of course, we think it’s urgent, but collapse is unimaginable”responds one of the owners to the president of the court who puts the alerts end by end: the showers emptying in the apartment below, the incessant sound of doors that have to be opened or kicked shut, the cracks that widen overnight…
“It’s not red, it’s ultra-red”
With a vigor which earned him a reminder of courtesy by the court, Wednesday November 20, Xavier Cachard, lawyer and close to the president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), scrap metal, in his role of defendant, with his colleagues from the civil parties. “A plethora of knowledgeable people told us that the building was not in danger of ruin. In hindsight, everything shows that there was an emergency but if the experts did not see it, how can I, a lawyer, know? » He refutes that 65, rue d'Aubagne was an abandoned building and provides ten years of household bills and work in the stairwell. “Or 375 euros per month”takes it back to the jump Me Brice Grazzini, lawyer for the families of three victims, while the problems in the building were structural. “We are not talking about mailboxes in poor condition”squeaks the lawyer.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers “There it is, it’s collapsing”: at the rue d’Aubagne trial, a look back at the multiple alerts from tenants
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A year before the tragedy, a structural design office and an expert named in civil legal proceedings between the co-ownerships of 65 and 67, rue d'Aubagne noted a structural weakness, mentioned “a real risk for property and people in the short term” and inform the city. “How can you not react to this alert? It's not red, it's ultra-red.questions Me Benoît Candon, defender of the building's occupants.
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