Bernard Bonnet

Bernard Bonnet (born February 11, 1948), French civil servant, is best known for being the first prefect since World War II to be convicted of an offense committed in the course of his duties,Fact|date=April 2007 his role in the "Affair of the beach huts".

Early career

Bernard Bonnet was born in Grünstadt, Germany, where his father, an army officer, was serving. He entered the French civil service as a tax inspector, a post he occupied for five years before being admitted to the prestigious École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) in the "Guernica" class of 1976. On graduation, he obtained a post at the Interior Ministry.
*chief-of-staff to the prefect of Vendée (1976–78)
*chief-of-staff to the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais (1978–79)
*secretary general of the prefecture of the Aude (1979–91)
*deputy prefect, responsible for security, at the regional prefecture of Corsica (1991–92)

Prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales

Bernard Bonnet was named as prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales in 1993 by Charles Pasqua. He was strongly opposed to expressions of catalanism in the "département", including the public use of the Catalan language, and his time in Perpignan has been described as "five years of absolute rule by a super-prefect" [cite web |title=Bernard Bonnet: un préfet chez les catalans |url=http://www.llibreriacatalana.com/pages/livres_f_bonnet.htm |publisher=Llibreria catalana |accessdate=2007-04-03 |language=French.] in the pseudonymous book "Bernard Bonnet, un préfet chez les Catalans" [cite book |title=Bernard Bonnet, un préfet chez les Catalans |first=Marc |last=Duran | publisher=Éditions de la tempête |year=2000] After his departure for Corsica, a fake death notice appeared in Catalan in "L'Indépendant", the main local newspaper in Perpignan.Fact|date=April 2007

Prefect of Corsica

Bernard Bonnet was named as prefect of Corsica by Jean-Pierre Chevènement on 1998-02-09, just three days after the assassination of his predecessor Claude Erignac. His role, as announced by Chevènement, was to "restore the state of law",Fact|date=April 2007 and he quickly showed a firm hand against nationalist groups. He was particularly uncompromising in his use of Article 40 of the Code of Penal Procedure, which obliges civil servants to denounce any illegal activity of which they are aware. [citation |title= Bernard Bonnet, "serviteur de l’État" ou "autocrate manipulateur" ? |last=A. B. |date=2001-11-19 |newspaper=L'Humanité |url=http://www.humanite.fr/journal/2001-11-19/2001-11-19-253682.]

His style brought protests from Corsican politicians, but were generally well received on mainland France.citation |first=Laurent |last=Chabrun |title=Bernard Bonnet, préfet courage |url=http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/corse/dossier.asp?ida=417627 |date=1998-11-05 |newspaper=L'Express |language=French.] citation |title=Bernard Bonnet, préfet à poigne |date=1999-04-30 |newspaper=L'Humanité |url=http://www.humanite.fr/journal/1999-04-30/1999-04-30-288738.] In a session of the Corsican Assembly on 1998-10-31, he was asked ironically by members of the Corsica Nazione group "when he was leaving": he replied that it would be "when your friends stop racketeering, when your friends stop the assassinations at village festivals, when your friends stop planting explosives."

Affair of the beach huts

Bernard Bonnet's career came to an abrupt end in 1999 with the "affair of the beach huts" ( _fr. affaire des paillotes). On the night of 19–20 April 1999, two illegally constructed beach restaurants were destroyed in an arson attack at Cala d'Orzo, south of Ajaccio. Bonnet initially suggested that the attack was a result of a disagreement between armed separatist groups (a common occurrence in Corsica at the time), but the police investigation quickly indicated that the fire had been started by a group of gendarmes from the elite "Groupe de peloton de sécurité" (GPS). [citation |first=Lionel |last=Venturini |title=Un "Rainbow paillotes" en Corse |url=http://www.humanite.fr/journal/1999-04-30/1999-04-30-288743 |newspaper=L'Humanité |date=1999-04-30 |language=French.] A walkie-talkie, a compass, a blood-stained balaclava and several jerrycans which had contained petrol were discoved buried in the sand of the beach on 23 April, while a badly-burned patient had been anonymously admitted to the Rangueil University Hospital in Toulouse, transferred from the neighbouring military hospital.Fact|date=April 2007

Bonnet was arrested on 3 May and flown to Paris for questioning: [cite news |first=Richard |last=Tylor |title=Police and senior government officials implicated in arson attack |publisher=World Socialist Web Site |date=1999-05-24 |url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/cors-m24.shtml.] he was held in prison on remand ("détention préventative") for two months. After a trial in Ajaccio, he was found guilty of conspiracy to arson ("complicité de destruction de biens appartenant à autrui par l'effet d'un incendie") on 2002-01-10 and sentenced to three years of imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and three years deprivation of his civil rights ("privation des droits civiques"). [cite news |title=Corsica ex-governor guity of arson |date=2002-01-11 |publisher=CNN |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/11/corsica.bonnet/index.html.] [citation |title=Paillotes : prison ferme pour le préfet Bonnet |date=2002-01-11 |newspaper=Le Figaro.]

Bonnet appealed against his conviction, first to the Court of Appeal in Bastia, which rejected the appeal on 2003-01-15, and then to the Court of Cassation, France's highest court, which rejected his petition on 2004-10-13. [ [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/Visu?cid=127408&indice=1&table=CASS&ligneDeb=1 "Bulletin criminel" 2004 N° 243, p. 885 (Petition no. 03-81763)] .] His request for a Presidential pardon was rejected by Jacques Chirac in March 2005. [citation |first=Geoffroy |last=Tomasovitch |newspaper=Le Parisien |date=2005-03-12.] Nevertheless, Bonnet never returned to prison as he was granted probation ("liberté conditionnelle") by a Paris judge on 2006-06-09, a decision confirmed on appeal on 2006-10-12. [citation |first=Stéphane |last=Durand-Souffland |title=Le préfet Bonnet reste en liberté conditionnelle |newspaper=Le Figaro |date=2006-10-13 |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20061012.WWW000000315_lancien_prefet_bonnet_en_liberte_conditionnelle.html. ] Neither was he ever sacked from the civil service: he was suspended after his arrest in May 1999, and retired on a normal pension in October 2006.

Bibliography

Works by Bernard Bonnet:
*"Préfet en Corse", Michel Lafon, 1999, 302pp, ISBN 2840985322.
*"A vous de juger: Contre-enquête sur une affaire d'Etat en Corse", Flammarion, 2001, 484pp, ISBN 2080682245.
*"Le sang et le pilori", L'Archipel, 2005, 332pp, ISBN 2841877353.

References

*Much of the material in this article has been translated from the article "Bernard Bonnet" on French Wikipedia.
*cite web |url=http://www.denistouret.net/constit/affaire_Bonnet.html |accessdate=2007-04-03 |title=France, Corse, Etat de droit (Etat soeur), nationalistes, justice, émissaire, préfet Bernard Bonnet: |author=Denis Touret |date=2007-02-12

Notes