"
Beware of judicial populism
": after the requisitions for the Bac Nord trial in Marseille, the defense worked on Tuesday to wash the honor of the 18 police officers prosecuted, presenting them as the victims of a "
careerist hierarchy
" and of "
junk whistleblowers
".
Read also: The northern districts of Marseille, areas at very high risk
"
This file allows you to give yourself a good conscience on the cheap, (...) but beware of the temptation to set an example, which sometimes tends towards judicial populism
", warned Me Emmanuel Molina, defender of Patrick Morio, one of the former members of the anti-crime brigade of the northern districts of Marseille accused of having stolen money, narcotics and cartridges of cigarettes from dealers and smugglers, nine years ago.
"
It's true, the North Bac, it's a stain, it speaks fat
", conceded Virgile Reynaud, lawyer of four defendants. "
And it is true that at the Bac, when there was no meat at the end
" - that is to say no arrest or substantial seizure -, "
we did not write
», He continues, to explain the missing minutes. But procedural errors, ethical breaches, these are not criminal offenses, insist the lawyers, recalling that the 18 defendants have already been sanctioned administratively, and that three of them, including Patrick Morio, have even been dismissed.
"
This file collapsed
", lambasted Me Camille Radot, regretting that the honor of his client was "
definitely soiled
": "
It has been nine years that Sébastien Soulé fights against this label of ripou. But nine years later, what's left? Two poor savage destruction of cannabis
", he protests, denouncing an investigation in slow motion, with an interrogation of his client"
interrupted in October 2012, then resumed in May 2016
".
For Me Alain Lhote, defender of Bruno Carrasco, another dismissed police officer, the 18 defendants were victims of "
a dependent investigation
", abandoned by "
a hierarchy almost exclusively careerist who today plays the frightened virgins
" and prefers not know how the "
uncle
", the informants of the investigators,
are paid
.
"
Media stake
"
Between "
a narcissistic police prefect
", "
an ultra-communicative public prosecutor
" and "
junk whistleblowers
" -the three former Bac Nord at the origin of the accusations-, the 18 defendants were thrown on "
a stake lit by manipulated media
", accused Alain Lhote. At the material time, in 2012, the Marseille prosecutor Jacques Dallest had notably spoken of "
gangrene
", accusing the members of the Bac Nord of "
using the beast
" during their interventions, in a city he called it an “
open-air delinquency mine
”.
Read also: Trial of the BAC North of Marseille: up to 6 months in prison required against the 18 police officers
In a context of figures policy, these men were victims "
of a war of the chiefs
", "
of a settling of scores by interposed examining magistrates
", had launched a few moments earlier Me Reynaud, also evoking him the denunciations at the origin of this case, and in particular those of Stéphane Bennardo. Also dismissed from the police since, after being convicted for false reports, this former Bac Nord was very close at the time to the boss of the local branch of the IGPN, said the lawyer. He was even in copy of Jacques Dallest's emails, in 2013, when the former public prosecutor of Marseille corresponded with his successor in the Marseille city, he insists.
"
So Bennardo was informed of the searches which took place at the Bac Nord
", these searches which made it possible to find narcotics in the false ceilings of the locker room of the police officers, affirmed the lawyer.
And Me Reynaud to put forward "
the hypothesis
" that these products had been "
placed there on purpose
", without accusing anyone directly.
In the absence of eight of the defendants at the hearing, including at least five affected by Covid-19, the defense pleadings must continue on Wednesday.
The deliberation is expected Thursday April 22.
