WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, OCL: Harsh Sentences on Appeal for No Thanks to Reservoirs (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

(en) France, OCL: Harsh Sentences on Appeal for No Thanks to Reservoirs (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Date Sun, 12 Jul 2026 07:40:19 +0300

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See online: NO MERCI RESERVOIRS https://www.bassinesnonmerci.fr/bnm79/2026/05/07/verdict-contre-julien-le-guet-des-relaxes-mais-des-sanctions-financieres-importantes-et-une-condamnation-tres-lourde-et-incomprehensible-de-6-mois-de-detention-a-domicile-sous-bracelet-electronique/ The verdict is in. Julien Le Guet was acquitted on some charges but heavily sentenced on others, with over EUR20,000 in financial penalties (damages and court costs) and six months of house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet, with immediate effect.

We acknowledge this decision with profound anger and utter incomprehension at the severity of this sentence and what it reveals about the desire to silence the anti-reservoir movement by silencing one of its spokespeople.

As a reminder, this decision follows the hearing on March 4th in Poitiers, where Julien Le Guet was tried on appeal for several offenses related to the mobilizations against the mega-reservoirs, namely:

the "Grill Party" of October 2, 2022, in Sainte-Soline, where he was accused of participating in a group, making threats of destruction, stealing a shovel, and writing a message in erasable marker on a sign belonging to the Océalia Cooperative ("Océalia, complicit in the reservoirs, signatory of the protocol");

- A tag created on May 1, 2023, in front of the Niort gendarmerie ("For Serge and the 200 injured in Sainte-Soline, Dubée, Vestieu, Darmanin in prison");

- The weekend of mobilization on October 29 and 30, 2022, in Sainte-Soline ("Not one more basin"), for participating in a group and damaging an irrigation pipe;

Significant acquittals, but extremely heavy fines + an incomprehensible sentence of 6 months of house arrest with immediate effect.

Several points should be highlighted:
- Julien Le Guet was acquitted regarding the May 1, 2023, tag in Niort, as well as the inscription targeting the Océalia cooperative and the theft of the shovel on October 2, 2022;

- The Coop de l'Eau 79, which was seeking up to EUR1 million in compensation for securing the reservoirs, lost its case;

However, Julien Le Guet was ultimately ordered to pay over EUR16,000 in damages, as well as EUR4,000 in legal costs.

These amounts remain extremely significant and confirm the intention to place considerable financial responsibility for the Sainte-Soline protests on an activist and spokesperson for the anti-reservoir movement.

But this decision is also marked by a very harsh sentence: six months of house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet, with immediate effect. This follows the events that uncovered during the weekend of protests on October 29 and 30, 2022, in Sainte-Soline, including participation in a group and property damage. The mere fact of having been present at the scene, as spokesperson for the "No to Reservoirs" Collective, was used to justify this conviction, even though he did not damage a single grate or pipe. Furthermore, he is being held responsible for all the damage that occurred during these protests (namely, about a hundred grates and an irrigation pipe), the extent of which is insignificant compared to the lasting and massive environmental damage caused by the mega-reservoir projects themselves.

It should be noted that Julien Le Guet is now convicted for having opposed, along with the anti-reservoir movement, the construction of the Sainte-Soline reservoir, which is now unusable since its construction was ultimately ruled illegal!

In practice, this sentence amounts to six months of deprivation of liberty and house arrest, in addition to the ban on entering the territories of Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon and Sainte Soline.

It is all the more incomprehensible given that the prosecutor had not requested a custodial sentence. The court therefore chose to go beyond the prosecution's recommendations, imposing a restrictive measure of liberty that is as severe as it is shocking.

This sentence will have major consequences on Julien Le Guet's daily life, although the precise details are not yet known at this stage, pending his appearance before the sentencing judge, a date which is currently unknown.

A particularly telling fact: the day before this decision, the administrative court ordered the destruction of five reservoirs deemed illegal in Charente-Maritime, after 20 years of litigation. This situation highlights the profound inconsistency between, on the one hand, the recognition of the illegal nature of many reservoir projects, and on the other hand, the judicial repression targeting those who oppose them.
Even as the mobilizations against mega-reservoirs-particularly in Sainte-Soline-have revealed crucial issues of water sharing, agricultural models, and democracy, the response has once again been judicial and repressive toward those defending life.

We remind you that these mobilizations were led by tens of thousands of citizens, farmers, and various organizations, mobilized against massively rejected mega-reservoir projects that would seize a vital resource for the benefit of an agro-industrial model destructive to life and deadly for farmers.

The conviction of Julien Le Guet, an emblematic figure and spokesperson for the movement, can only be interpreted as an attempt at repression aimed at weakening and silencing this protest. Julien Le Guet is indeed actively involved in a series of information sessions, meetings, and training sessions on water conservation, which are one of the movement's core activities. This house arrest is an excessively harsh measure that severely and permanently restricts the freedoms of a committed activist and their ability to participate in public life. It follows in the footsteps of the exclusion orders imposed on many anti-reservoir activists. It represents an unacceptable form of political repression. We condemn it in the strongest possible terms!

We will not back down.

Despite this decision, our resolve remains unwavering.

We reaffirm our full support for Julien Le Guet and all those prosecuted for their activism.

Faced with the environmental emergency, the appropriation of water and land, and the repression, we will continue to mobilize, raise awareness, and take action. We will stand together, as we always have!

We invite you to join us for the next two trials:

- May 21st, starting at 12:30 PM in front of the Paris courthouse (29-45 avenue de la Porte de Clichy); Julien Le Guet is being sued for defamation by Emmanuelle Dubée, then Prefect of Deux-Sèvres during the Sainte-Soline mobilization in March 2023;

- May 27th, starting at noon in front of the Poitiers courthouse; Nicolas Girod and Benoît Jaunet (spokespeople for the Confédération Paysanne), Benoît Feuillu (spokesperson for the Earth Uprisings), and Julien Le Guet (spokesperson for the Bassines Non Merci collective) are being prosecuted for "organizing an illegal demonstration" during the March 2023 mobilization against the mega-reservoirs in Sainte-Soline.

Let's be there in large numbers! The fight continues, more than ever!

Financial solidarity:
A fundraising campaign has been launched.

OCL Poitou is a signatory of this statement.

Furthermore, two reservoirs in the Poitou region, in Lusseray and Pamproux (Deux-Sèvres), were "uncovered" during the night of Wednesday, May 6th to Thursday, May 7th to "denounce the public funding of the reservoirs and their development in the Boutonne watershed," according to the Association for the Permanent Uncovering of Reservoirs in Poitou, which claimed responsibility for the act of sabotage. "We stand with the residents, community groups, and farmers who have been fighting against these mega-reservoirs for years. If they continue to exist, it is solely due to constant political, industrial, and police pressure," asserts this new collective. The Pamproux basin is owned by Pampr'oeuf, which the collective denounces as "an agro-industrial company that wants to expand its already huge farm of hundreds of thousands of laying hens".

https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4698
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca