Rémi Martial (LR), mayor of Lèves, departmental councilor (Chartres 3) and vice-president of Chartres Métropole, was placed under judicial supervision, this Wednesday, October 14, after being indicted for “sexual assault, moral harassment and malicious phone calls ”.
These charges, according to our information, have no connection with his activity and his elected mandates. Rémi Martial “strongly contests the accusations against him”.
The file was disoriented in Dreux
Its judicial control stipulates in particular that the mayor of Lèves, presumed innocent and with a clean criminal record, does not have the right to come into contact with the complainant, domiciled in the Chartres agglomeration.
According to our information, she told investigators that she had met her in front of the school where their children are educated. Contacted this Wednesday, October 14 by The Republican Echo, the public prosecutor, Rémi Coutin, contented himself with a few details on this file:
“A 34-year-old woman presented herself at the Chartres police station on June 17, 2020.”
Remi Coutin (District Attorney)
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According to him, she would then have implicated “Rémi Martial, mayor of Lèves”, for “acts qualified as sexual assault and sexual harassment”. The prosecutor decided to entrust the investigation to the urban security brigade of Dreux, in order to allow the police to work in serenity on this file, without any possible pressure, and to avoid any leak that could harm the investigations.
The preliminary investigation lasted more than three months, under the direction of the prosecution.
38-year-old Rémi Martial, reelected in the first round of municipal elections (71.41%), in March, was summoned to the Dreux police station on Monday afternoon. He was taken into custody. “His custody, extended by 24 hours, was lifted today (Wednesday, Editor’s note) », Specified the prosecutor.
In Lèves, Rémi Martial begins a second term as mayor
Rémi Martial was then presented to the prosecution on Wednesday morning. A judicial investigation has been opened. The prosecution has reclassified the alleged facts of “sexual harassment” as “moral harassment”. And he added the qualification of “malicious phone calls”. However, he maintained the qualification of “sexual assault”.
In her statements, the complainant, heard on several occasions, would have indicated to investigators that the facts of which she accuses Rémi Martial would have taken place between April 2019 and August 2020.
The public prosecutor indicates: “During his hearings, the mayor of Lèves fully contested the facts with which he is accused. “
The elected representative “strongly contests the charges against him”
Regarding the motivations of the prosecution to open a judicial investigation and to entrust the case to an investigating judge, Rémi Coutin explains: “This will allow the investigators to continue their investigations, which are necessary, in particular the verification of certain declarations of Rémi Martial; but also to give an adversarial character to the procedure. The defense can now access the documents in the file. “
Contacted by the intermediary of his lawyer, the Bâtonnier Me Vincent Rivierre, Rémi Martial, consultant in professional training, opted for the drafting, with his advice, of a press release of twelve lines that he sent us.
This document specifies that the mayor “strongly contests the accusations against him”. And that he “is delighted to finally be able to access the criminal file. He will thus be able to defend himself on an equal footing with the accusation, and thus demonstrate, in the long term, his innocence ”. The press release concludes: “It is with confidence and combativeness that Mr. Rémi Martial will participate in the investigation, carried out on both charges and defense by the examining magistrate, so that the truth triumphs. “
The investigation is expected to last several months.
A forty-something suspected of sexual assault in Chartres
Thierry delaunay
[email protected]
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