A former deputy to the former mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin and a condominium manager were indicted in the investigation opened after the collapse of two buildings which left eight dead at Marseille in November 2018, we learned Thursday from the prosecution.
Julien Ruas was in particular in charge of prevention and risk management in the team of the mayor LR of Marseille at the time of the events, Jean-Claude Gaudin. The Liautard cabinet was the trustee of the condominium at 65 rue d’Aubagne, the only one of the two buildings that was occupied at the time of the disaster.
The lessor Marseille Habitat already indicted
Their indictments occur within the framework of an open judicial investigation, in particular for homicides and unintentional injuries and endangering the life of others, and follow that of the social landlord Marseille Habitat. This semi-public company in the city of Marseille owned the second building which collapsed, located at 63 rue d’Aubagne and whose access was blocked in 2017.
Contacted, Julien Ruas did not react immediately.
Two years of investigation
The collapse of two buildings in the popular hyper-center of Marseille on November 5, 2018 left eight people dead.
He had highlighted the extent of the problem of unsanitary housing in the second city in France ruled for 25 years, until last summer, by the mayor LR Jean-Claude Gaudin, around whom criticism had crystallized.
The investigating judges in charge of the investigation into this disaster pronounced the indictments, two years after the tragedy, on the basis of a judicial expertise which reports a large number of major breaches
and missed opportunities
.
“Ineluctable” collapses according to experts
In mid-October 2018, the disturbing deformation of a wall located in the entrance to the building located at 65 had justified a legal procedure of danger. Only one apartment was then prohibited for occupancy, but the other tenants had been authorized to return to their accommodation.
However, note the experts, from mid-October 2018, collapses being inevitable, the only measure required was the urgent evacuation of all occupants
.
Authorizing the emergency work, the property manager and the owners had been alerted by the tenants until the days preceding the collapse of worrying deformation of door frames, windows that no longer close or the aggravation of cracks. In their report, the experts deplore that the trustee did not have not realized the importance of these warning signs
.
Dilapidated pole
A conflict between the co-ownerships of the buildings at 63, 65 and 67 rue d’Aubagne which had lasted for years had justified no less than nine legal expertises.
During an expert visit on October 25, 2018, the representative of the property manager at 65, rue d’Aubagne noticed the dilapidation of a staircase post located in the cellar and supporting the ground floor. . The next day, the trustee sent the following message to a company: Look at the bottom of the cellar stairs on your left, a pillar that is crumbling, to be repaired
.
According to the experts appointed by the investigating judges, the breaking of this pole would have acted as the trigger for the collapse.
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