Haute-Vienne: four people suspected of having damaged wind turbines under investigation
France Bleu/France 3 Limousin, 20 January 2023

Several measuring masts were vandalized in the department between July 6 and October 21, 2022. During these three and a half months, according to the statement of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, wind measuring masts (used for wind turbine implementation studies) collapsed after the cables supporting these masts were severed.

These incidents, which occurred in the communes of Rilhac-Lastours and Ladignac-le-Long, led to the opening of an investigation by the Limoges research brigade and research unit. On October 21, a judicial investigation was opened “for the charges of damage to property by persons concealing their faces and criminal association.” The investigations led to the arrest of four people on January 18, who were placed in police custody and then charged the next day.

The prosecutor alleges that they have destroyed “measuring masts” at least five times during the summer and fall of 2022, which are equipped with anemometers to calculate wind speed, and installed for several months in wind farm projects. The cables used to maintain these masts had been found cut.

The suspects, identified by the investigators of the research section of Limoges and the gendarmerie group of the Haute-Vienne, acted with masked faces. According to a judicial source, they are two men aged 34 and 28, a farmer and and self-employed, and two women aged 62 and 25, retired and without profession, presenting a profile “close to the ultra-left”, adds a source close to the case.

The four defendants reside in Haute-Vienne and Dordogne and, although some statements were made, it seems that these defendants were not very talkative. They have been placed under judicial supervision with the obligation to pay a bail of 120,000 euros.

via:sansnom