“Behind the shepherd’s mask hides the most violent Turkish extreme right that can exist.” It is with this sentence that the mayor (PS) of Brest François Cuillandre put an end to the impromptu intervention of Nazim Yenier in the middle of a municipal council meeting on February 6, 2024. At the head of the collective “les Bergers du district” which he founded in 2021, he had just spoken from the ranks of the public to castigate the inaction – according to him – of the municipality after the dramatic accident which cost the life of Cécile Le Lirzin, 84 years old, run over by two young people on a motorcycle on March 23, 2023 in Pontanézen. The 43-year-old activist is not his first attempt: he multiplies the videos denouncing delinquency and insecurity in Brest.
A trial within three months
Ulcerated by the gratuitous attack – and according to him unfounded – by François Cuillandre, Nazim Yenier had demanded a public apology in vain, before taking legal action by means of a direct quote. It was therefore not the prosecution which initiated the proceedings. This Monday at 1:30 p.m., a committal hearing will set the trial datewhich must be held within three months. “This is clearly a racist insult, in addition to referring to genocidaires”is outraged by the plaintiff’s lawyer, a French citizen since 2014. Me Pierre-Hector Rustique goes so far as to describe the mayor as “returned to justice”.
Already sentenced in November 2023 to a fine of 10,000 euros including 7,000 suspended for concealment of breach of trust, François Cuillandre hopes this time to be relaxed. His lawyer, Me Dominique Leyer, will invoke in particular Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression. In the event of the mayor’s conviction, the plaintiff plans to take the matter to the Rennes administrative court to request damages.
