Suspended for two months by the rectorate for “attacks on secularism”The director of a Catholic establishment hired in Pau was able to return to his duties on Thursday, November 28, while justice rules on the merits of the case.
On September 9, Christian Espeso was suspended from his duties at the head of the Immaculée-Conception school complex for a period of three years. The administration accused him of having ignored the principle of secularism. “for having authorized the teaching of a course entitled “religious education””and for having organized a march from Pau to Lourdes “which would present a religious dimension”remembers the administrative court of Pau.
Also questioned by the rectorate, the censorship of textbooks and school works. “containing sexual passages considered inappropriate”. The sanction was also motivated, according to the same source, by “inappropriate behavior of the data subject, characterized by violent comments towards certain members of staff and malicious management practices”.
“Disproportionate”
The summary judge of the Pau court, contacted by the interested party and the parents of the students, suspended the execution of the sanction on Thursday pending a trial on its legality by a collegiate chamber.
Highlighting in his order that the plaintiff had never been sanctioned until now, despite having held the position for eleven years, the magistrate considers that the potential “disproportionate” of the sanction, in the state of the elements of the file, is “probably raises serious doubts about its legality”. It also maintains the emergency condition in view of the “Risk of dismissal in the short term” of the accused and the impact of the sanction on his personal situation.
Mr. Espeso’s lawyers, Mr.are Thierry Sagardoytho and Vincent Ligney, had denounced a “empty file, manipulated and directed”believing that his client was “sacrificed on the expiatory altar of the recurring attacks against private education”.
At the beginning of the year, five public and private education unions denounced “breach of contractual obligations” from the Pau establishment towards the State. The rector of the Bordeaux Academy took note, on Thursday, of the decision of the administrative court. “This is a summary judgment, and the merits are not judged.” (…) “We will continue to monitor and support the establishment towards compliance with contractual requirements.”said.
