Sentences of six to eighteen years of criminal imprisonment for five of the thirteen accused of the Molotov cocktail attack on four police officers in October 2016 at the entrance of the Grande-Borne in Viry-Châtillon, against ten to twenty years in first instance for eight of them… The verdict delivered on the night from Saturday to Sunday by the Paris Assize Court of Appeal, after a month and a half of a closed-door trial - some of the accused were minors at the time of the facts - sent shock waves through the ranks of the police.
When the verdict was announced, at 1 a.m., after more than fourteen hours of deliberation, a fight broke out in the box of the accused and in the room, in a major confusion, causing the intervention of about thirty police officers. and gendarmes, after one of the convicts shouted against the president.
One of the accused would then have attacked another, who would have "swayed".
The court did not follow the requisitions of the Advocate General who had requested this Tuesday a single acquittal and sentences of twelve to twenty-five years of criminal imprisonment for the twelve other defendants, now aged 21 to 26 years.
According to our information, he began his indictment by addressing the accused: “I know that you are an asset for our society.
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The quality of the survey called into question
For Laurent-Franck Liénard, lawyer for one of the police victims, “justice has not been served. Either we did not prosecute the good authors, or we did not acquit the good ones. The gang that attacked the police consisted of nineteen people. Fourteen are missing today. "The penalist continues:" There is a terrible frustration. Several times during this trial, the quality of the investigation was raised. One can ask the question on the choice to seize the departmental security. It was a file for a criminal brigade (
Editor's note: of the Regional Directorate of the judicial police of Versailles
) with robust investigators. "
The analysis is the same on the defense side.
Me Sarah Mauger-Poliak, lawyer for an accused who had already been acquitted in December 2019 by the Assize Court of Essonne, believes that "this verdict comes to sanction an investigation which was the opposite of an investigation irreproachable.
It would have been necessary to relocate, there was too much pressure on the backs of these police officers, it was necessary to find the culprits at all costs.
We will now have to understand.
The victims remain victims.
The police are bruised.
But there are two categories of victims now, with young people who have been in detention for nothing ”.
One of the defendants, presented as the leader of this team and sentenced at first instance to twenty years of criminal imprisonment, is among the acquitted.
"A legal nightmare"
Me Arnaud Simonard, whose client had already been acquitted at first instance, shares this analysis: "The final acquittal of my client, after the one already pronounced in Evry, puts an end to a legal nightmare, four years of proceedings, pre-trial detention long enough.
As the proceedings were held in camera, we do not have the right to reveal the content of the hearings.
But innumerable anomalies of the investigation carried out in charge were raised there, which could explain the anger of certain defendants at the statement of the verdict.
"
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In a month and a half of the trial, the flaws in the investigations carried out were pointed out and even admitted by the director of the investigation who, according to our information, affirmed at the bar: “I have no certainty.
The broadcast of filmed hearings would have ended up tipping the balance with statements far removed from those recorded in the minutes and numerous pressures from investigators.
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Faced with this observation, Frédérick Petipermon, lawyer for one of the accused, had filed a complaint at the start of the trial for forgery and use. He should be followed in the coming days by some of his colleagues. "Before denouncing this verdict, we must dwell on the investigation," reacts another defense lawyer.
On the bench of the civil parties, the police officers who, on this October day, were targeted while they were protecting a video surveillance pole accuse the blow. “My client oscillates between incomprehension and disgust, testifies Me Thibault de Montbrial. It is a legal wreck. Sixteen perpetrators were counted on a video to end up with five convictions and eighteen years maximum for having intentionally tried to kill police officers by burning them alive. It is the triumph of the law of the district, of the omerta, of the leaden cover with which the investigators constantly come up against. As a symbol, the double general fight - including one started by individuals who had yet to be acquitted. The natural quickly reappeared. "
Me Liénard continues: “The police took a huge punch in the face.
Jenny (
Editor's note: one of the victims
) who attended the hearing every day was devastated when the verdict was announced.
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"It's a license to kill a cop"
This is the case for an entire profession.
"To put an end to any form of delinquency, we need firm and exemplary sanctions," claims Claude Carillo, departmental secretary of the Alliance police union.
The verdict is shocking for all police officers, but also for all of society.
Many colleagues are disgusted.
Vincent (
Editor's note: the most affected official
) could not attend the verdict because he was undergoing a new emergency operation, after having already had seven or eight face transplants, he is bruised.
"
To denounce the "laxity of justice", Alliance launched a call for a rally on Tuesday at 12:30 pm in front of the Paris court and in front of all the provincial courts and in the overseas departments.
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“This verdict is disgusting, abounds Guillaume Roux, the departmental secretary of SGP 91 Unit. It sends a very disturbing message: one may have tried to kill the police and take only six or eight years, as for a theft.
That's a cop's license to kill.
We trivialize the violence against the police that is daily.
A few days ago, 400 meters from the place where the police were burned in Viry in 2016, officials were attacked by mortar fire while securing an intervention.
As for those who speak of errors in the investigation, it is inaudible.
"
If convicted defendants appeal to cassation within five days, acquittals remain final, and the sentence pronounced for defendants who do not appeal to cassation cannot be increased.