six months’ imprisonment with suspended sentence and fines requested of two defendants

On April 8, sarcophagi and human remains abandoned in garbage bags were discovered in a wild landfill, not far from the town of Bigorno. The trial of two men accused of attacking the integrity of a corpse took place on Tuesday at the Criminal Court of Bastia.

Bones and human remains, piled up in garbage bags, and thrown, in addition to the old coffins, into a wild landfill. In Corsica, where the cult of the dead is a centuries-old tradition, last spring’s macabre discovery made headlines.

A case that was dealt with on Tuesday 6 December by the prison court of Bastia. With one main objective: to understand how, for what reasons and in what way pieces of corpses could have been so abandoned in the middle of the Mediterranean maquis.

Two people are implicated in this case: Edouard S., a former manager of a local funeral home, accused of attacking the integrity of a body and breach of trust; and Paul D., a retiree who sometimes did early-earning jobs to make ends meet, charged with attempting to compromise the integrity of a corpse.

The story dates back to March. Seven bodies are to be exhumed from a family vault. The family hasn’t lived in the village for years and the owner of the concession would like to sell it to the Municipality.

An operation that he chooses to entrust to Edouard S. The latter offers an estimate of 5,400 euros and validates a date for exhumation, March 3, with the town hall.

For At the bar, the former funeral director says he went there the day he joined Paul D., who was tasked with helping him extract the coffins from the vault. He describes opening them, taking the bodies and bones and placing them in body bags, which were in turn placed in another coffin brought in for that purpose.

“Is one coffin enough for seven bodies?”, asks the president. Yes, assures the defendant, ”there was also spaceHe points out that he also brought a second coffin, but he didn’t need it.

Convinced, he assures us, that he has recovered all the human remains, Edouard S. leaves the cemetery to proceed with the reduction of the bodies at the Bastia crematorium, leaving the coffins inside the chapel. These are cleared the next day by Paul D., responsible for burning them on his private property, as well as the rubble and other waste left in the vault, collected in garbage bags, against an additional fee of 400 euros.

The ashes of the deceased, collected in three urns, are placed by Edouard S. in the Campitello columbarium. The man warns his client. The story could have ended there.

But on 8 April Christophe Graziani, mayor of Bigorno, saw empty coffins in the midst of the rubbish, in a wild landfill unfortunately well known to the inhabitants of the micro-region, under a road that connects Murato to his municipality. Outraged, the elected officials photographed the scene, posted on Twitter and immediately contacted the gendarmes.

Alerted by an unbearable smell of decay, the military reported several garbage bags among the waste. For inside, rubble, fabrics and padded coffins, but also human bones, including, among others, a jaw and teeth, the remains of a trunk, a humerus, or even a mummified foot.

Analyzes are carried out, and at least three different bodies are reported, whose date of death is estimated to be less than fifty years, the last death dates back to 2004. At the same time, the sordid news is widely relaunched on the media and on social networks.

Edouard S. invokes a terrible but unintentional error on his part. “When I saw in the photos that there were bones left… I really thought I had removed everything.“

“But sir, there was a whole humerus, can you imagine? There were vertebrae, ribs…“, surprised the president. “The vertebrae are small, often missing, defends Edouard S., embarrassed. But a forearm, I don’t know how I was able to lose it… I recognize my faults on the forgotten bones, I searched inside the coffins, I searched. Maybe tiredness got me, I don’t know. When I looked for the lower back that was forgotten, I didn’t understand how I could have lost it, and then I was told that with time it could warp and take the shape of the background of the coffin.“

How do you explain that as a professional you missed bones measuring between 25 and 30 cm?

An argument that does not find favor with the prosecutor’s representative. “The gendarmes, who are not experts in the sector, easily recognized a mummified jaw or even a foot. How do you explain that as a professional you missed bones measuring between 25 and 30 cm?“

Poor, torn coffins, where bones may have slipped into the seams or fabric, are to blame, Edouard S. insists.”If a bone slipped to the side, I didn’t see it, it’s my fault, I should have been more careful, I won’t argue. But it wasn’t intentional“, he repeats.

As for abandoning trash bags and coffins, Paul D. admits to throwing them in the wild landfill. “But I didn’t know there were bodies inside“, he sighs.”The day before, when [Edouard S.] he was cleaning the coffins, I asked him if he was sure there were no more human remains in them. He replied, don’t worry. So I carelessly put whatever was left in the trash bags. “

“Didn’t you see a foot while clearing?“, challenges the president.No, I thought it was rubble, leftovers. If I had exhumed myself, I would have made sure there wasn’t a knuckle, not a finger, nothing, but I didn’t touch the bodies. I didn’t know, I folded up the padding and threw the trash bags in without checking. Then I put everything in the van and it was decided to burn everything on my land.“

I did well not to burn on my land. You realize I would have burned bodies. It is not possible. I am also a Christian.

An agreement that Paul D. ultimately decides not to respect. “How come ?”, asks the president. ”Why is it prohibited by law, I asked”, replies the defendant. ”Why is it legal to throw rubble and coffins in the Mediterranean scrub?”, continues the president. ”No, of course not, but I take responsibility for that. But I did well not to burn on my land. You realize I would have burned bodies. It is not possible. I am also a Christian.“

Interrogated in turn by the investigators, the two defendants changed their version of the course of events several times, recalls the president.

Interviewed for the first time on April 16, Edouard S. thus tells the police that he let Paul D. contact the owner of the concession regarding the removal of the coffins from the chapel. Before returning to this point, later acknowledging that he himself was responsible for passing the message between the two men, who themselves never contacted each other directly.

Paul D. first indicated that Edouard S. filled the garbage bags of rubble and waste with Edouard S., before claiming, in a second phase, that he filled and transported them himself.

According to the prosecutor’s representative, in this case there are two defendants with very evolving speeches, who in turn have discharged the responsibility for the facts. “The finds of the gendarmes are significant and they didn’t have to dig much to find bones of sometimes considerable size.“, she decides.

In this context, he believes, it is difficult to believe in a lack of attention on the part of the two men regarding the “forgotten” remains. “The reality of this file is that we have the statements of the employee inside the Bastia crematorium, who tells us that the coffin containing the bones brought from [Edouard S.] it was filled to the brim. We understand then that that day he did not know what to do with human remains.“

What, then, of the second coffin that the defendant claims to have brought with him as bail, in case the place runs out? If he didn’t use it, the prosecutor claims, it was to save money: burning a second coffin in the crematorium would have generated an additional cost.

In this context, the Advocate General is seeking six months of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 euros against Edouard S., accompanied by a two-year ban from carrying out a funeral-related activity. . For Paul D., a fine of 10,000 euros, of which 5,000 accompanied by a simple suspension.

Sentences suppressed by the defendants of the defendants. “This file has occupied the media and social networks, rscold me Philippe Gatti, lawyer of Paul D. But don’t let them pull you by the sleeve.“

In that case, “there are men who have certainly made mistakes, but don’t forget that their honor is at stake. Do you realize, in Corsica, a land of respect for the dead, what have we dared to do? The country where the cult of the dead is more respected, do we reach this level of degradation? That’s what people think, even some of my fellow lawyers, that this is a dirty case. But it’s not true, it’s not a dirty case. I have the honor of defending Paul.D, who is a man full of values.”

Is there any evidence that he intended to damage the tomb and the dignity of this family? No.

What is he accused of, resumes the lawyer, “it is infamous. Is there any evidence that you intended to damage the grave and the dignity of this family? No.“

I too, Emmanuel Maestrini, Edouard S.’s lawyer, deplore a dossier subject to “of a media frenzy and on social media, after the post on Twitter in particular by the mayor of Bigorno, which had to be answered by the Bastia prosecutor’s office. But that does not excuse oblivion of the law.“

He denounces an investigation carried out by the gendarmes brought about by convictions and “fantasies“, and that they haven’t studied the artifacts and facts enough.”Precisely on the formulation of the crime, what my client is accused of does not hold up. He is accused of throwing trash bags into the landfill. However, these trash bags, he didn’t dispose of them, we agreed.”

Both lawyers are asking for his release. Judgment is reserved for January 10, 2023.