Nearly a hundred agents of RTE, this subsidiary of EDF which manages the electricity transmission network in France, gathered on Thursday, October 6, in front of the operator’s headquarters, in La Défense near Paris , to protest against the placement in police custody of four of their colleagues in the premises of the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI). “Counter-terrorism services are used to silence agents’ salary demands “, denounced a statement from the federation Mines-Energy of the CGT.
Aged 31 to 35, these agents, stationed at the network maintenance group (GMR) of Flandres-Hainaut, in Valenciennes (North), were arrested at their home on Tuesday, October 4. “Handcuffed and qualified in front of their families of cybercriminals in an organized gang”, says the CGT. They have since been heard in the premises of the DGSI in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).
From judicial sources, they are accused of facts “obstruction of an automated data processing system”, of “computer sabotage”, d’« introduction », « modification » et “fraudulent deletion of data contained in an automated data processing system”. All organized. Their custody can be extended up to ninety-six hours, or four days. So until Saturday, October 8 in the morning.
“We make believe in cybercriminals! It’s a complete delirium! », indignant Francis Casanova, CGT central union delegate, bewildered, like all his colleagues at the turn events are taking.
Complaint by RTE
The investigation was opened on July 29 following a complaint from RTE. The operator did not wish to speak publicly, but did so in an internal press release whose The world got a copy. The management of RTE mentions “serious acts” led “three times and concomitantly on the industrial tool” between June and July. Actions that would have led to the loss of “two essential functions for network operation: observability, i.e. the ability to see from a distance (…) what is happening on the network; manoeuvrability, i.e. the ability to act on this equipment” for planned actions or in response to contingencies. In short, potential risks.
“They are blamed for switching the stations locally, for having cut off the remote control. As if the TV remote control was confiscated from you, that does not prevent it from working, but if you want to change the channel you have to move around”, deciphers Jean-Louis Maury, of the CGT RTE, who places these facts in the context of the major social movement experienced by the operator in the first half, for salary increases.
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