Former Mayor of Mantes-la-Jolie, Sidi El Haimer, Sentenced to One Year in Prison

Found guilty by the judges of the Versailles Court of Appeal in a racketeering case, the former mayor of Mantes-La-Jolie, Sidi El Haimer, a leading figure of the Polisario in the Paris region, sentenced in January 2023 to a one-year suspended prison sentence, sees his sentence increased.

The verdict is in. The judges of the Versailles Court of Appeal have increased the sentence of the former mayor of Mantes-La-Jolie, Sidi El Haimer, implicated in the Val-Fourré market affair, to two years in prison, including one year in prison, for witness tampering. “The prison sentence is provided for at home with the wearing of an electronic bracelet, according to the report of the judgment,” reports The Parisian. The judges also handed down an additional five-year ineligibility sentence against him. Disappointed, his lawyer Alexandre Simonin, who was expecting an acquittal or a reduction in sentence, intends to appeal to the Court of Cassation. “Today, I don’t understand, I don’t have all the strings attached,” he confided. “It’s an incomprehensible, surreal decision, whose political significance can be suspected. We are going to appeal to the Court of Cassation.” Since his client’s conviction is not final, Sidi El Haimer, interim mayor from January to May 2022, following the resignation of Raphaël Cognet, will not wear a bracelet.