The Bobigny court released Hervé Ossant on Monday.
The departmental secretary of CGT 93 was accused of having slapped a police officer during a demonstration organized in October 2019 in front of the prefecture, in support of the public service of Seine-Saint-Denis.
The facts were initially considered to be violence.
They had been reclassified as contempt during the hearing on February 8.
"It is a victory for the truth against the shameless lie of a person holding public authority," writes the CGT in a press release.
It is also a victory for our union freedoms.
"
Hervé Ossant was prosecuted for having slapped a police officer, while he claimed to have only dropped the peacekeeper's cap.
It was word against word.
But during the demonstration on October 31, 2019, which brought together around fifteen Cégétistes activists, one of them filmed the scene with his smartphone.
In this case, it is Abdel Saidi, elected since mayor of Bobigny, who immortalized these moments.
This video did show a headgear flying off but not a slap on the policeman's cheek.
The prosecutor himself had admitted: “There was a big rat race, but we cannot deduce that there was a slap.
He had therefore requested the reclassification of the facts in contempt.
This video is now brandished by the union which places it at the heart of its fight: "This decision recalls the usefulness of the freedom to film, to inform whereas a dark law called global security wishes to hinder it", insists the syndicate.
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On the strength of his relaxation, Hervé Ossant does not want to stop there.
"All light must be shed on these police officers who knowingly lied," he insists.
We are thinking about what to do next ”.