Court Overturns Sale of Municipal Land to Bagnolet Mosque, Challenging 2019 Decision

Built on a plot of 1,023 m², the mosque was inaugurated in 2013. The town hall of Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis) had signed an emphyteutic lease of 63 years for an annual rent of one euro with the Association of Charity and Brotherhood of Bagnolet (ABFB), a religious association. According to the law, the property should revert to the municipality’s assets at the end of the lease. The latter can rent it or not to the association. But in 2019, a deliberation was voted in the municipal council on the sale of the land of the mosque to the ABFB for an amount of 950,000 euros. A deliberation canceled by the administrative court of Montreuil last April.

The judges blame the town hall for not having respected the law of 1905 on the separation of Churches and State, reports Le Parisien. They also mention the lack of information for the elected officials and the staggered payment of part of the price (a payment of 700,000 euros at the signing of the deed of sale and the remaining 250,000 euros - in monthly installments of 5,208.33 euros spread over four years). The text of the deliberation on the sale of the land of the mosque of the town of Seine-Saint-Denis provides no information on the composition of the ABFB and its resources.

"The municipality of Bagnolet has granted aid to the exercise of a cult and thus disregarded the aforementioned provisions of the law of December 9, 1905," concludes the court. Dissatisfied, the municipality has appealed the decision.