FRANCE: REBEL FARMER JOSE BOVE APPEAL AGAINST VERDICTS IN TWO TRIALS FOR WRECKING FAST FOOD RESTAURANT MCDONALDS PREMISES

Record ID: 344842

  • Title: FRANCE: REBEL FARMER JOSE BOVE APPEAL AGAINST VERDICTS IN TWO TRIALS FOR WRECKING FAST FOOD RESTAURANT MCDONALDS PREMISES
  • Date: 16th February 2001
  • Summary: MONTPELLIER, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR MONTPELLIER COURTHOUSE; MV POLICE OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE; MV CROWDS APPLAUDING BOVE AND HIS CO-DEFENDANTS AS THEY ARRIVE AT COURTHOUSE (4 SHOTS) 0.25 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOSE BOVE SAYING "We made an appeal because we don't believe that what was decided, the sentence that was decided in June, was a good sentence. So that's why we decided to go in an appeal but for us, which is the most important thing, is that we have to continue to inform the people about what is going on with the WTO and globalisation. That's going to be all that we're going to say during the trial today." 0.56 3. MV/SLV BOVE ENTERS COURTHOUSE; CROWDS SING "TOUS ENSEMBLE" ("All together"); MV BOVE ENTERING COURTHOUSE (9 SHOTS) 1.46 4. MV BOVE IN INTERIOR COURTROOM 1.56 5. MV/SCU JUDGES (2 SHOTS) 2.03 6. MV/SCU BOVE SEATED; MV JUDGES; ROUX-BOVE-FABREGUES DOCUMENTS ;MV MORE JUDGES SITTING; SCU MORE DOCUMENTS (6 SHOTS) 2.37 7. MV PEOPLE LEAVE COURTHOUSE 2.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MONTPELLIER, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA2QHZSO7QSINN7HGCFU0DBDUP4
  • Story Text: France's favourite rebel farmer Jose Bove and his
    radical partners have appealed against verdicts in two trials,
    including the trashing of a McDonald's restaurant.

    Jose Bove and his radical partners were back in court
    on Thursday (February 15) awaiting appeals verdicts in two
    trials for wrecking a McDonald's restaurant and locking up
    agricultural officials.

    Before entering the courthouse Bove told Reuters, "We
    made an appeal because we don't believe that what was decided,
    the sentence that was decided in June, was a good sentence. So
    that's why we decided to go in an appeal but for us, which is
    the most important thing, is that we have to continue to
    inform the people about what is going on with the WTO and
    globalisation. That's going to be all that we're going to say
    during the trial today."
    Bove, a forty-seven-year-old sheep farmer, won fame in
    1999 when he led a group that trashed a McDonald's at Millau
    in southern France in protest against U.S. tariffs on French
    delicacies such as Roquefort cheese and foie gras.

    A prominent cheerleader at anti-globalisation protests
    from Seattle to Davos, he has skilfully mobilised radical
    farmers and tapped French prejudices against fast food -- for
    which he popularised the term "la malbouffe" (lousy food).

    Bove, who heads the Confederation Paysanne farmers' union,
    denied any presidential ambitions because Green party members
    mentioned his name after party leader Dominique Voynet, who is
    also Environment Minister, announced she would not run.

    Bove and eight co-defendants first faced a hearing on an
    appeal against their conviction for locking up agriculture
    ministry officials in a government building during a March
    1999 protest. The prosecution appealed against the original
    verdict because it handed down no punishment even though they
    were found guilty.

    Later, Bove and nine partners were due to hear a ruling on
    the appeal against their jail sentences in the McDonald's
    case.

    His partners appealed against that conviction out of
    solidarity with Bove because he received three months in jail
    while they only got suspended sentences and one was acquitted.

    The prosecutor in Millau also appealed against the
    conviction, arguing that three months in jail was not stiff
    enough.

    Bove and two co-defendants were tried last week in the
    same court on charges of destroying bioengineered rice plants
    in a 1999 attack on a research institute in this southern
    French city.

    The prosecution, which charges the attack caused four
    million francs ($554,200) of damage, asked for a sentence of
    three months in that case. The court will announce the
    sentence next month.
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