Olivier Marleix's suicide: "asphyxia," what doctors know about the causes of his death
Republican MP Olivier Marleix was found dead at his home on Monday, July 7. An autopsy confirmed the suicide hypothesis. The death was indeed caused by "asphyxia consistent with autolysis."
The essentials
- Olivier Marleix, MP for Eure-et-Loir, was found dead at his home in Anet on Monday, July 7. The son of former Secretary of State Alain Marleix, who was elected to the Palais Bourbon in 2012, he led Les Républicains from 2022 to 2024.
- The autopsy of the MP's body, which was conducted on Wednesday, July 9, has delivered its conclusions. Death was due to "asphyxia consistent with autolysis." No signs of internal or external violence were found on the body, thus supporting the suicide hypothesis. Following the examinations, the MP's remains were handed over "to the family, who will repatriate him to Dreux," the prosecutor said.
- Olivier Marleix was found hanged in a bedroom on the first floor of his home. Police discovered the body when they arrived at his home after being alerted by relatives and the mayor of Anet. Suicide was quickly suggested.
- The reasons that led Olivier Marleix to take his own life are unknown. The public prosecutor of Chartres, Frédéric Chevallier, indicated that a "small piece of paper" had been found, but no letter. An investigation to "investigate the causes of death" has been opened, a procedure provided for when the causes of death cannot be explained or appear to be linked to suicide.
- Olivier Marleix's funeral is scheduled for this Friday, July 11, at 3 p.m. in Anet, the town where he lived and was mayor for nearly 10 years. Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the LR deputies, has already planned to attend.
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Olivier Marleix's home was searched, and a cell phone and a computer were seized, according to the prosecutor. "They will be quickly analyzed in order to trace Mr. Marleix's last conversations or exchanges and understand the motive(s) behind this dramatic act," he said. Since the initial results of the autopsy conducted after the discovery of the former MP's lifeless body, no new information regarding the reasons that drove him to commit this act has been released.
Although the autopsy findings of Olivier Marleix confirm suicide, the investigation into the elected official's death continues, according to L'Écho Républicain . The public prosecutor of Chartres, Frédéric Chevallier, indicated that toxicological analyses were underway, and that witnesses were still being interviewed. Finally, the analysis of Olivier Marleix's phone and computer are also among the tools available to investigators.
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Olivier Marleix was a respected right-wing figure in the Assembly, whose inner workings he had long known, notably as president of the LR group. For many within his political family, he embodied a form of modern Gaullism, combining technocratic rigor with local roots, and embracing a conservative line.
After studying at Sciences Po Paris (class of 1992) and obtaining a university degree in public law, Olivier Marleix became involved in politics at a very early age. He was successively a project manager for Charles Pasqua, parliamentary attaché for Michèle Alliot-Marie, and then president of the Union of Youth for Progress (RPR youth movement). He then rose through the ranks as chief of staff for Nicole Catala, then for Martial Taugourdeau at the Eure-et-Loir General Council.
In 2008, he was elected mayor of Anet (Eure-et-Loir) and became vice-president of the departmental council. At the same time, he held several national positions between 2005 and 2011: technical advisor to Brice Hortefeux, then collaborator at the Élysée under Nicolas Sarkozy, before joining Claude Guéant's office.
He ran in the 2012 legislative elections in the 2nd constituency of Eure-et-Loir and was elected as a member of parliament under the UMP label. Re-elected in 2017 and 2022, he made a name for himself in the National Assembly, notably by chairing the commission of inquiry into the sale of Alstom's energy division to General Electric. This work earned him the Ethics Prize from the Anticor association in 2020, a first for a right-wing MP.
In June 2022, he was elected president of the Les Républicains group in the National Assembly. Considered a man of substance, serious and discreet, he embodied a right-wing movement committed to republican values, critical of Macronism, but hostile to extremists.
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