A Luxembourg court on 29 October has sentenced Frères to a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of €2,000 for pressuring a dog owner into handing over their pet. Frères on social media said he would appeal the verdict, saying he had helped an injured dog get treatment with the consent of the owner.

The Pirate party following the verdict convened a meeting of its leadership committee, which Frères is a member of.

During the meeting Frères resigned from this post as well as his position as a municipal councillor in Remich.

Frères in the 2018 elections was the top candidate for the party in the east election district. However, he failed to secure the number of votes needed for a seat in parliament. The Pirate party is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Sven Clement and Marc Goergen.

He was also a candidate for the party in the 2019 European parliament elections, which caused criticism of his handling of campaign advertising. Frères is the president of animal rights organisation Give Us A Voice, which had posted adverts during the campaign linking to a personal page by the politician.

The Pirate party defended Frères at the time, saying, however, that he would have to be more careful about separating his political and private profiles. Frères also owns a real estate agency.

He remains a member of the Pirate party, which said in a statement on 30 October that Luxembourg is lacking a clear animal rights framework.