The trial on the false proxy voters that disrupted the 14 October 2018 election in Neufchâteau, in the province of Luxembourg, opened on Monday morning before the Mons division of the Hainaut Correctional Court.
Twenty-two people, including former deputy mayor Dimitri Fourny and some of his relatives, are on trial. They are charged with forgery and breach of trust in the context of a criminal association. Some 60 people have filed civil suits in this case.
The Luxembourg Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated the investigation revealing the existence of around ten contentious powers of attorney within a retirement home, Le Clos des Seigneurs. These proxies aimed to give additional votes to the Agir ensemble list of the outgoing mayor Dimitri Fourny. In the end, this list won an absolute majority by 16 votes.
Eight months later, a new election was organised in Neufchâteau. This time, the Agir ensemble list lost its absolute majority and was returned to the opposition.
The investigation led to the indictment of some twenty people, including the former deputy mayor Dimitri Fourny and some of his relatives for forgery, use of forgeries and breach of trust in the context of a criminal association. The former leader of the Humanist Democratic Centre (now Les Engagés) in the Walloon Parliament, who left politics for good in the spring of 2021, has always denied having anything to reproach himself with.
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The Luxembourg public prosecutor’s office had asked the Court of Cassation to be relieved of the case, as there are family ties between some of the accused and members of the court registry. The case, in which the municipality of Neufchâteau has joined as a civil party, has therefore been referred to Mons.
The trial is presided over by Laurent Schretter, President of the Court of First Instance. The prosecution is represented by Laurence Dubois, Deputy Public Prosecutor of Mons-Tournai.
