Moselle. Identity theft: an elected official deprived of municipal council membership due to a fake resignation letter

Elected in 2020 on the list of Anne-Marie Linden-Guesdon, the current mayor, municipal councilor Julien Ruaro was deprived of his mandate due to a resignation letter in his name that he did not author. A 39-year-old father, he ran in the 2020 municipal elections on the only list in the running in this village of 800 inhabitants located about ten kilometers from Metz. Once elected, he quickly became disillusioned within an assembly unaccustomed to dissension, and in 2021, he reported to the gendarmerie acts of illegal taking of interest targeting the first deputy, Régis Gauthier, a notary by profession, around a real estate project.

Other issues, including the possible misappropriation of public property and road issues, continue to worry Julien Ruaro, who describes himself as an "independent elected official" and represents the only opposition voice. In January 2024, the village mayor received a letter in Julien Ruaro's name, informing her of his resignation from the municipal council. "Without even trying to contact him," she formally confirmed his resignation, he regrets.

The elected official filed a complaint to have his identity theft recognized and sent a sworn statement to the town hall, but it had no effect. "Once a resignation reaches the mayor, it is irrevocable," explained the mayor, Anne-Marie Linden-Guesdon, in 2024.

For the elected official, however, it was "a serious attack on the democratic process." The letter contained "44 lines of typed information followed by an illegible signature," written with a "blue ballpoint pen," according to the expert. All members of the municipal council were asked to submit to the expert appraisal.

In the results of the analysis, the graphology expert concluded that the handwritten notes, particularly on the delivery slip of the letter with acknowledgment of receipt, "are not the work of the various comparison writers", namely Julien Ruaro or the members of the municipal council, but "are to be attributed to the hand of an unidentified third party".

Despite this, the mayor refused to reinstate him. Julien Ruaro therefore obtained a summary hearing before the Strasbourg Administrative Court on May 13. Two previous summary proceedings had been rejected by the court, notably pending this expert appraisal. He hopes to have this resignation suspended, pending the substantive judgment, and to be able to participate in city council meetings again.