"Doubt will remain, [...] it's the worst of things": sentences of up to six months in prison were requested on Monday against 18 former police officers from the anti-crime brigade of the northern districts of Marseille, tried for criminal charges. theft of drugs, cigarettes and money.
Finally, this Thursday, seven of them were released and the other eleven sentenced to suspended prison terms.
To read alsoTrial of the former police officers of the North Bac in Marseille: "Adrenaline, flagrante delicto, that's what I like"
Confidence "towards certain police services, this confidence deserves to be reviewed", had lashed during his indictment the deputy prosecutor of Marseille André Ribes, recalling that it was from the work of the police that the prosecution directed the investigations .
A "gangrene"
"In the long term [...] doubt will remain in everyone's head, it's the worst of things," insisted the magistrate, who asked for the heaviest sentence, six months in prison, at the 'against six of the 18 defendants, two of whom were then serving as group leaders at the time of the events, in 2012.
The prosecution, which requested the minimum sentence of one year suspended against five defendants, deplored the "formidable" and "not glorifying" image of the police referred in this case.
Nine years ago, when the case broke out, the Marseille prosecutor at the time, Jacques Dallest, spoke of "gangrene", accusing the Bac Nord police officers of "paying on the beast" and " take their tithe ”from some of the smuggled cigarette dealers and dealers they controlled.
During the trial that began a week ago, officials were questioned at length about these discussions recorded for six months, in 2012, by the police, with the "sound" of their vehicles and the wiretapping of their offices, where they boasted of having taken advantage of arrests to recover money or drugs.
A "policy of numbers"
Asked about their many arrests related to drug trafficking, while the instructions of the hierarchy were to focus on snatching thefts and attacks on people, the officials questioned the "policy of numbers".
This Bac boasted of being the best in France, with more than 4,000 arrests per year.
At the stand, the police explained that the cannabis resin and the bundle of banknotes found in their locker room were intended to pay informants, as well as the 23 bars of “hash” found at the home of one of the defendants.