May 28, 2024
Montreal-area mayor reveals she was sexually assaulted by convicted former politician  | Globalnews.ca

Montreal-area mayor reveals she was sexually assaulted by convicted former politician | Globalnews.ca

The mayor of a Montreal suburb has revealed herself as the sexual assault victim of ex-Parti Québécois legislator Harold LeBel.

Catherine Fournier had asked Quebec Superior Court Justice Serge Francoeur during a hearing last month to remove the publication ban on her identity.

Francoeur on April 6 approved the request, which enters into effect today — coinciding with the broadcast of a documentary about Fournier’s case.

Fournier was with the PQ from December 2016 to March 2019, when she quit the party to sit as an Independent; she was elected mayor of Longueuil, Que., in November 2021.

A judge in January sentenced LeBel, 60, to eight months in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexual assaulting Fournier at his condo in 2017.

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He will also serve two years probation, is prohibited from contacting the victim and will be registered as a sex offender for 20 years.

LeBel, who was granted parole this week, is a former member of the legislature between 2014 and 2022.

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