Stock Photo - Former Neufchateau Mayor Dimitri Fourny (C) and other accused pictured during a session of the correction court, with the examination on the merits of the case of the false proxies which disrupted the 2018 Neufchateau local election, before the correctional court in Mons, Monday 24 April 2023. Twenty-two people, including the former parliament member and former mayor Fourny and some of his relatives, are warned in this case. They are charged with forgery in writing, use of forgery and breach of trust within the framework of a criminal association. About sixty people have joined as civil parties. During the 2018 municipal election, the Agir Ensemble list led by Fourny obtained a narrow absolute majority (10 seats out of 19). This electoral victory had been contested due to the discovery of around fifty disputed proxies. BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK.