a day ago
Brittany far-right figure tried for financial new crimes
All of a sudden, the presiding judge at the correctional court in tLhe western French city of Lorient, western France, broke off from reading the list of financial offenses attributed to Florent de Kersauson, age 75. She fixed her gaze on de Kersauson, a businessman and regional councilor in Brittany for the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party. On the stiflingly hot afternoon of Wednesday, June 11, he was slouching down on his chair, with his head resting against the bar of the dock. The judge, Séverine Debordes, asked him: "Do you behave this way at the regional council of Brittany?"
Regular attendees of Brittany's regional assembly would likely answer her question in the affirmative, given how much de Kersauson, a former executive at the telecoms company Alcatel, relishes playing the troublemaker. He has served on the regional council since the 2021 elections, when RN leader Marine Le Pen appointed the family friend as a candidate for the party. In council sessions, de Kersauson, whose brother is a renowned sailor, has enjoyed speaking in a style that switches between mocking and lecturing. He has even, at times, lost his composure, as he did during an April 2023 council session when he performed an obscene gesture toward the council's president, the left-wing independent Loïg Chesnais-Girard.
