Four men were sentenced Monday to terms of six months to three years in prison for the fire of the prefecture of Puy-en-Velay, in 2018, on the sidelines of a demonstration of "yellow vests". "I do not know" , "I do not remember" , "I did not think" , "I happened by chance" : the defendants aged 21 to 37 struggled throughout the hearing to explain the reasons for their involvement in this fire which had marked the spirits at the height of the "yellow vests" movement. Eighteen gendarmes and police were injured.
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Up to several dozen "yellow vests" took turns all day Monday in front of the criminal court in sign of support for the defendants, displaying a banner on which was written "The fire we all lit." . However, of the four defendants, only one clearly claimed support for the movement. Gabin Joubert, the youngest and "the best socially integrated" , according to the prosecutor Nicolas Rigot-Muller, explained without conviction that he had demonstrated "at the beginning against the rise in fuels" and " against the (transition to) 80 km / hour " . Beard and short black hair, the young man admitted to having been present in front of the prefecture on December 1, and to having thrown what he believed to be a bottle of water through a window of the building. It was actually a Molotov cocktail type projectile.
"What do you say to yourself?" challenges President Nizar Samlal. "I don't really know" , "I don't remember" , he tries, before admitting that he wanted to "bring (his) stone to the building, to dirty, not to destroy." "Gabin Joubert, he is young, he is twenty years old, he takes part in this event, he forgets himself a little, but the acts he committed are not very serious either," argued his lawyer Cécile Linossier. His client will be sentenced to two years in prison, including eighteen months suspended.
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Christophe Frémont, 31, assured him at the helm that he had passed "by chance" that day and that he did not belong to the "yellow vests" . He received two years in prison with 14 months suspended sentence. Two years in prison, including 12 months suspended, were pronounced against François Rodriguez, 37, who said he came to the scene in support of "friends yellow vests" . The fourth defendant, Dylan Bouzarti, 22, imprisoned for other acts, refused to be removed from his cell. Questioned by videoconference, he did not wish to answer.
The accused under curatorship was also prosecuted for "violence with the use or threat of a weapon" for throwing a bottle of acid at the police. He was sentenced to three years in prison, a sentence lower than that of six years claimed by the prosecutor. On December 1, 2018, in Puy-en-Velay, a “calm and peaceful” city , “it was chaos, not just scuffles” , had previously noted Mr. Rigot-Muller in his closing address, referring to a “major attack on the social contract ” . He had notably recalled that around thirty people were inside the building when he caught fire.
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It is not a question of “putting on trial the demonstration of the yellow vests” but of “responding to (those who) dare to say that this unleashing of violence is legitimate because based on the anger of the most deprived” , declared for his leaves the lawyer of the civil parties Emmanuelle Bonnet, representing the State and three police officers. Referring to a "symbol of the state and democracy" , she said that the damage done by the prefecture had been estimated at 250,000 euros.
Originally scheduled for January 20, the trial was postponed due to the lawyers' strike against the pension reform.
This fire had aroused a great deal of emotion and President Emmanuel Macron went there three days later, on December 4, 2018, to support the staff. He had come out under the boos of several local activists.
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