Mayor of Thizy-les-Bourgs Faces Opposition Call for New Election After Sentencing for Organizing Alcoholic Evenings with Minors

Martin Sotton, mayor of the village of Thizy-les-Bourgs (Rhône), has had a hectic week. Monday April 24, he was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Villefranche-sur-Saône to six months in prison with probationary suspension of two years and a one-year ban on his civil rights for having organized, at the end of 2021, alcoholic evenings with teenagers placed by justice in a home for minors.

He had even given one of them the keys to his vehicle. And since then, the 34-year-old elected (MoDem) has faced an unprecedented revolt within his municipal council.

Elected officials want a new election

Four opposition politicians, Bénédicte Chirol, Mohamed Hadjab, Jean-Michel Michelot and Anne Reymbaut have indeed presented their collective resignation this week. “We cannot wait for the decision to appeal a mayor sentenced in the first instance to the loss of his civil and civic rights, and hope that the future former mayor will have the decency to accept this judgment and that he will not condemn the city to suffer longer from being in the spotlight for its unspeakable escapades”, denounce the elected officials to justify their decision.

Wishing for the holding of a new municipal election, they call on their colleagues in the majority to do the same to “avoid prolonging an untenable situation for all”, they specify.

Mayor of Thizy-les-Bourgs since 2017, Martin Sotton had succeeded the former Keeper of the Seals Michel Mercier, of whom he was the protege, after having been his parliamentary attaché. In total, since last September, nine elected officials have resigned from the municipal council of Thizy-les-Bourgs in reaction to this affair.

Martin Sotton, who since the revelation of the facts has expressed deep regret and apologized, did not say whether he intended to leave his post as mayor. He has ten days to appeal against the judgment.