The Paris Criminal Court on Thursday (April 21) handed down sentences ranging from a fine of 1,200 euros to 10 months' suspended imprisonment against five men, including Antonin Bernanos, a figure in the anti-fascist movement, for violence during a protest in 2016.
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The five defendants, aged 26 to 33, were found guilty of violence in a meeting which resulted in more than eight days of total incapacity for work (ITT) on Léopold Jimmy, a former soldier and National Front candidate who became host of the press agency "
LDC
" (Line of Conduct).
The court imposed a 10-month suspended prison sentence on Antonin Bernanos, a repeat offender.
Two of his acolytes were sentenced to respectively five and six months of suspended imprisonment, and the other two to 120 day-fine at 10 euros.
"Dirty Chink"
On March 12, 2016, during a demonstration against the state of emergency, Léopold Jimmy films the start of a rally launched at the call of the association Droit au Logement (DAL) on Place Saint-Michel, in the heart of the capital city.
He was suddenly called out by name, insulted, called "
dirty chinetoque
", "
dirty fascist
", then "
beaten up
" and his camera torn off, according to the story he gave at the helm at the end of March.
He will be exfiltrated from the place by the police.
On Thursday, the president of the court explained that the video taken by a witness did not allow the beatings to be seen, but the "
traces of violence
" were noted and the guilt of the defendants was proven, the victim and the witness designating Antonin Bernanos as the most vehement.
The court is keen to remember that in France you can attend a demonstration without being hit
”, it is about “
basic public freedoms
”, commented the president in rendering her decision.
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Antonin Bernanos, who wishes to embark on a thesis in sociology, has already been sentenced to a five-year prison sentence, two of which are suspended, for his participation in the resounding attack on a police car in May 2016, quay of Valmy in Paris.
His sentence served, he is suspected of having participated in a fight with identity activists on the night of April 15 to 16, 2019, near the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral then on fire.
Indicted and reincarcerated for "
violence in meetings
" in particular, he denies these accusations.
Released at the end of October 2019, he has since been subject to judicial review which assigned him to residence, in particular in Loire-Atlantique, a measure partially lifted in May 2021.