Insults, bullying, brutal pulling of underpants: eight months suspended prison sentence were required, Monday, October 18, before the Marseille Criminal Court, against two marine firefighters tried for the moral harassment of a young recruit.
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At the time quartermaster, the two defendants disputed being the authors of insults and threats alleged by a sailor which had led him to a suicide attempt and to two psychiatric hospitalizations.
"
I missed my childhood dream
"
Assigned in June 2015 to the Saint-Lazare barracks in the center of Marseille, the complainant who has since left the battalion of marine firefighters claims to have been quickly taken in flu and insulted almost daily: "
You are a squid, you are a burne , you are useless
"... The young man assures to have also been the subject of repeated small slaps on the neck and of a"
underwear
", a rite of integration consisting in tearing off the sailor's underpants without removing his trousers.
A painful practice for the testicles, noted the president of the court Karine Sabourin.
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The young man who had lost twenty kilos and whom witnesses describe as "
a ghost
" had been transferred after six months to another barracks, in charge of computer missions, where he had regained a taste for his work. "
This file is far from the image of excellence that the battalion of marine firefighters wants to send back and this type of behavior casts shame on a body that everyone admires for its bravery
", noted the prosecutor Cécile Guyonvarch .
"
It is a nasty case because they devastated this boy and are not aware of it (...) They left him no chance to realize his passion
", pleaded Me Jean Boudot, civil party.
"
I missed my childhood dream
," confirmed the latter in court while at the age of 13, he followed training with firefighters.
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Designated by name by the complainant as "
the instigators
", the two defendants, in uniform at the hearing, demanded their release "
in the absence of any evidence
", according to Me Romain Allongue who defends one of them .
"
It is a false idea on his part, there was no bullying
", explained one of them, estimating that "
the status of soldier did not suit this sailor
".
In June, the court had already tried ten firefighters from another barracks for harassment.
Four had been released and six others sentenced to terms ranging from five to nine months in prison.
The judgment will be rendered on November 15.
