2023-09-06 13:48:00
The Namur criminal court on Wednesday imposed a fine of 4,000 euros on Yves Delforge, mayor of Mettet. 2 agents (Arnaud Maquille and Jules Sarto) and 2 former agents (Eugène Remy and Christian Dubucq) benefit from the simple suspension of the pronouncement of the sentence for a period of 3 years and the municipality of Mettet from a simple declaration of guilt. One of the defendants, Robert Joly, who had denounced the facts to the director general, is acquitted.
The Namur public prosecutor’s office had requested a fine of 1,000 euros on June 21 for each of the defendants and the confiscation of 621,000 euros once morest 6 former mayors and aldermen of the municipality of Mettet. They had to respond to 3 preventions: lack of an environmental permit, non-compliant management of waste and modification of the relief of the ground. The infringement period referred to was between September 2000 and July 2018. The facts concern the former Biesmerée quarry, which has not been exploited since 1975, where nearly 62,000 cubic meters of waste were dumped.
The public prosecutor reproached the protagonists for having, during their respective mandates, allowed to backfill this place with inert waste, transforming the place into a technical landfill center for which no authorization was issued.
Judge Cadelli stresses in her judgment that it was clear, from 2000, that no more waste might be deposited in the Biesmerée quarry and recalls that reports were drawn up on this subject in 2004 and 2005 and that some of the defendants even tried to regularize the situation, of which they were therefore aware. For the judge, the argument of “invincible error” does not hold water, all the agents being aware of the existence of the discharge and the PVs. “The testimonies agree, a municipal policy intended to circumvent the rules has been in place since 2000”. Judge Cadelli considers that the personal responsibility is indisputable on the part of the defendants, who “failed in their obligations” to respect the regulations in force. They would have, by acting in this way, allowed the operation of a landfill without authorization. “Which is neither invincible nor excusable”.
The Walloon Region, for its part, has dismissed its claim for damages. The judge castigates in her case a “properly incomprehensible inertia”. However, the remedial measures requested are granted. Alongside the criminal proceedings, a clean-up project was designed by the Sietrem company, approved by the Walloon region, which had previously assessed the impact of the backfilling on the environment. This project was accepted by the municipality of Mettet on April 27 and will consist of cleaning up and beautifying the site, which should cost 20,000 euros.
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