A 20-year-old man was sentenced on Friday January 28 to five years in prison, two of which were suspended, for having participated in the burning of a school and a college in a poor district of Béziers (Hérault), the Halloween night 2019, learned AFP from the prosecution.
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In accordance with the prosecution's requisitions, the Béziers criminal court imposed a five-year prison sentence on him, including two years accompanied by a probationary suspension for three years, during which he will notably be "
prohibited from going to Béziers
,” city prosecutor Raphaël Balland said in a statement.
The court also ordered his continued detention and he will have to pay just over 890,000 euros in damages to the town hall of Béziers and 11,000 euros to the firefighters of Hérault.
"Ambush"
The fire at the Tamaris school, in the La Devèze district, on October 31, 2019, had completely destroyed two classrooms and heavily damaged twelve others.
The sports hall of the Katia and Maurice Krafft college, a hundred meters away, had also been set on fire that evening.
A firefighter had been seriously injured in the back while fighting the flames and, when they arrived at the scene, the police officers of the anti-crime brigade (Bac) had been attacked by "
20 to 30 individuals with concealed faces, who had thrown stones, firecrackers and various projectiles
”, according to the prosecution.
Another man, aged 21 and prosecuted for having taken part in this "
ambush
", was acquitted by the same court on Friday, "
for the benefit of the doubt, given the insufficient evidence to assert without possible doubt his active participation in his facts
, ”said the prosecutor of Béziers.
On March 8 and 9, three minors will be tried for the same facts by the Béziers juvenile court.
Two will appear for the fires that targeted the school and the college.
The third, as well as one of his two comrades, will be tried for violence and participation in an ambush targeting the police.
