The mayor of Rezé, a town of 42,000 inhabitants near Nantes, committed suicide on the premises of the town hall – Le Monde

The emotion won the town of Rezé, near Nantes. Hervé Neau, the mayor of the city of 42,000 inhabitants, committed suicide by hanging inside the town hall, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned on Friday from the Nantes prosecutor’s office. “There is no doubt about the suicide: he left letters for his relatives and instructions for the funeral”, Nantes prosecutors told AFP. The judicial police have been seized of the investigation, according to the prosecution.

According to the public prosecutor of Nantes, Renaud Gaudeul, the chief of staff of the mayor had contacted the prosecution ” three days ago “to point out that the mayor and “several members of his entourage” had recently received malicious e-mails “mainly relating to his private life and which may be considered as defamatory”. “It was then indicated that the mayor could of course file a complaint for these facts and that he could benefit from the reinforced complaint monitoring system set up at the Nantes public prosecutor’s office”, added the prosecutor. The city councilor had not finally filed a complaint, according to the same source.

Emotion in the political world

Hervé Neau, 58, was elected mayor of Rezé in July 2020, after leading the “Rezé citoyenne” list, can we read on the website of the town hall, which has set up a psychological unit for municipal officials and elected officials. The former mayor of Nantes and ex-Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, quoted by West Francetestified to his “great sadness after the announcement of the death of Hervé Neau”of his “Solidarity with his family, elected officials and all Rezéens”.

“Terrible and shocking news. Hervé Neau was a committed and exemplary mayor. I am thinking of his loved ones, and also of the entire municipal team and the agents of Rezé.wrote on Twitter the deputy of Maine-et-Loire Matthieu Orphelin. “All my thoughts go out to his family, the elected officials and the inhabitants of the town of Rezé”tweeted the deputy of Loire-Atlantique Valérie Oppelt.