France

Prosecutor seeks eight years in prison for Bové

Article published on the 2008-08-28 Latest update 2008-08-28 10:19 TU

José Bové during the presidential campaign.
(Photo : AFP)

Former presidential candidate José Bové could face eight years in prison and four years probation.In a new court case involving the high-profile activist, he and eleven other ecological campaigners face charges relating to a 2006 attempt to destroy genetically-modified corn.

Marc Giblet, the Belgian farmer whose grain silos were targeted, also faces ten months in prison if he is found guilty of firing a gunshot in the direction of the activists during the incident.

“It’s time for José Bové to put an end to his compulsive acts that are the result of a poorly-managed Oedipus complex,” public prosecutor Jerome Bourrier declared referring to Bové’s father, a former agricultural researcher.

Bové came to fame in 1999 when he attacked a local McDonald’s fast-food restaurant under construction. He argued that it symbolised the free-market logic of the World Trade Organisation, which had just upheld American sanctions against French Roquefort cheese.

He served three months in prison for the act and became an international figurehead for the anti-globalisation and ecological movements.

Bové now faces charges stemming from a November 2006 episode dubbed a “genetically-modified organism tracking” operation. Bové and a group of “voluntary reapers” contaminated some of the 2,000 tons of genetically-modified corn contained in a silo on Giblet’s farm in south-west France.

Called by one of his employees, Giblet arrived on the scene and fired his rifle towards a footbridge on the silo, from which some activists had just unfurled a banner. Giblet was disarmed by some of the protestors before leaving the scene.

Bové remains defiant, saying non-violent actions like this one must be carried out.

“We have no other choice,” when faced with “illegal” and “clandestine” crops, he said on Wednesday.

A local politician who is testifying in the trial said that Bourrier is politically motivated and that his statements were “scandalous.”