A French mayor who continued to run his city from prison after being convicted of rape has been officially replaced after months of pressure and criticism from women’s rights organizations.
This is reported by The Local.
Dravei City Council has elected Deputy Mayor Richard Privat to replace Georges Tron, who resigned at the end of May after more than 25 years in charge — including four months running the city from a prison cell.
Tron in February began serving a three-year sentence for raping a city council employee and sexual harassment.
In his resignation letter at the end of May, he wrote about the “very painful decision” to relinquish his duties as mayor, arguing that he should still be considered innocent because he had not exhausted all judicial appeals.
His decision to continue running Dravei, a town of 30,000 in the southern suburbs of Paris, has angered opposition politicians and human rights groups.
Tron remains a city councilor and a member of the regional assembly, but the last mandate expires at the end of the month.
