Slander?

 Harry Morskate | 13 december  2010
It is normal practice not to make any substantial comments on the procedure while a court case is ongoing.  But that is different if besides relevant facts and opinions, false statements are presented such as in the memoir in reply of 12/03/2010: «Mr. Harry Morskate tries to cast slander on the community of Dio and Valquières». This is a serious allegation which needs to be investigated. It is important first to look at the definition of defamation.
  • Slander is the blackening of another by means of public statements which constitute false accusations. 
  • someone is in fact maliciously accused when there is attempt to his honor or exposure to public contempt.
In the memoir in reply of 05/10/2010, it is written: «Force est de constater que les travaux annonces dans la deliberation du Conseil Municipal en date de decembre 2009 (piece 15) ont ete de facto realise - du moins en partie (les voutes du vieux chateau et le mur de M. DAVID Antony) - par l'entreprise de M. le Maire.»
 
There is no question of «statements which constitute false accusations», but a simple declaration of facts, documented by numerous observations of several residents of our community and supported by photographs as evidence.
 
In every way I tried to verify these facts, and among other means, I attempted to check with the municipality itself. 
  • Almost every month since March 2010 I asked at the Mairie for the compte-rendus of the municipality. Each time the answer was that they were not there. 
  • 25 September 2010 I wrote a letter with a request for the compte-rendus. There was no reply. 
  • On 22 October 2010 the mayor declared that the compte-rendus were not available and "I only had to write a letter». 
The law in France is very clear: Article Loi n°2004-809 du 13 août 2004 - art. 122 JORF 17 août 2004 en vigueur le 1er janvier 2005

«The right of the inhabitants of the community to be informed of the affairs thereof and to be consulted on decisions affecting them, inseparable from the free administration of local government is a key principle of local democracy It is without prejudice to the provisions in force relating mainly to advertising acts of territorial authorities and the freedom of access to administrative documents.»

In short: complete lack of cooperation and unlawful refusal to provide information by the mayor.
 Of «malice» therefore, there can be no question at all, for I tried in every way to verify the facts. Defamation is a criminal complaint, which means that the accused can only be prosecuted after a complaint from the victim. It is the community who is free to submit a complaint about defamation to the court.
 
Such a complaint is hopeless and will therefore not be submitted by the municipality. But the fact remains that the municipality is in the wrong. 
  • Compte-rendus:
    As in memoire en reponse of 31/08/2010 the municipality writes that: «the comptes rendus are electronically spread». That is certainly not the truth. On 26/02/2010, the citizens with an internet connection received the compte-rendus by e-mail. Other citizens just received this in the normal mailbox at their homes.  After 26/02/2010 there is no more compte-rendu released, not at the mairie, not by e-mail and not in a mailbox. 
  • Parc photovoltaique:
    It is a very important project to think of installing a park photovoltaique of 30 Ha on the territory of our commune. This is now discussed in the conseil municipal. However, it is impossible for the citizens to determine whether there potential conflicts of interest  with our mayor. Worse, no citizen may be made aware of decisions because of the lack of compte-rendus. Yet it touches us all, and at other municipalities (Montady) it is recognized. Midi Libre 19/11/2010 and 27/11/2010.
By not publishing the compte-rendus and by not making them available at the mairie, it is impossible for the citizens to follow decisions. But it allows people to, subsequently and easily, invoke the law. That is to say that, overall, these decisions of the conseil municipal may be invalidated.
 
That will certainly happen if the commune fails to publish and distribute the compte-rendus immediately.
 
The municipality would be well advised to change its behaviour and start to engage in open and transparent communication. It would do well not to act like a totalitarian dictatorships, accusing critics of defamation. This cheap trick does not work when relevant information and communication are widely available in our Internet era.
     
La commune de DIO ET VALQUIÈRES, située dans le département de l'HERAULT, au pied des Cévennes, réunie trois hameaux DIO, VALQUIÈRES et VERNAZOUBRES, d'une importance quasi égale, et abrite 139 habitants sur une superficie de 1.877 hectares. La Gazette de Dio et Valquières est une initiative de citoyens concernés qui surveillent de façon critique la politique municipale.
Gazette de Do et Valquières