A dispute pitted a resident of Waldwisse against the town hall for years. The municipality accuses this citizen of depositing materials, objects, waste in front of his house, in the heart of the village located on the German border in the north of the Moselle. The friendly requests, the meetings, the attempts at conciliation have all failed.
In December 2020, following an unsuccessful formal notice, the mayor issued an ordinance ordering the automatic removal of waste, cans, bags, toys, washing machines, cars piled up in front of the building. 3.8 tons were evacuated by a specialized firm, in the presence of the gendarmes. The resident objected violently. He had been sentenced in a hearing by the criminal court of Thionville for violence and death threats against the mayor.
The man, in his forties, assures that the whole family has left the house. The dispute should be resolved but continues. The mayor filed a complaint in December 2021 to report the improper storage of goods of all kinds. According to elected officials, this pile would even block access to the municipal cemetery. And this time the case was brought before the police court.
“I’m going to fix the house and sell it”
The defendant did not miss the hearing. Mechanic in Luxembourg, he also calls himself a junk dealer. Stocky, robust, hands behind his back, he disputes the facts of which he is accused. “There are still vehicles and piles of wood”, he minimizes, given the photos provided by the gendarmes. “Everyone in the village has the right to leave their wood in front of their house, so why not me? He claims that he never received a letter or a phone call from the gendarmerie asking him to put the situation in order. “I’m going to fix up the house and sell it,” he announces annoyed.
His lawyer, Me Charou Anandappane, speaks of relentlessness towards his client. She reveals the crimes she is accused of, one by one. She begins by returning to the definition of “wrecked car” and believes that the defendant’s vehicles, loaded with goods, parked on the sidewalk are identifiable, undamaged. He will also be released from prison for abandoning vehicles in an unauthorized place. The judge does not even preserve the non-compliant occupation of the public road property. Instead, it sentences the citizen to a fine of 100 euros for depositing objects, materials, waste without need, hindering free movement on the public road. The delimitation of this common space, in fact, is one of the crux of the dossier.
