“We are going to set the scene, it was a scene of urban guerrilla warfare”, immediately launched President Isabelle Verissimo by opening the proceedings of the Meaux criminal court, this Wednesday.
In the box: a 20-year-old Meldois, tried for violence with a weapon against law enforcement officers during an ambush.
Suspected of having seriously injured a policeman from Meaux with a mortar, on the night of July 13 to 14, the defendant denied being the author of the shots.
The firefighters had been drawn to the Beauval district, where a trash can was on fire in the middle of rue Paul-Louis Courier, around 1:15 a.m.
It was at the car park of the Chambord and Camargue residences that the police – who had come to secure the intervention of the firefighters – had been targeted by around twenty people.
The police retaliated by using their defense ball launchers, their Cougar grenade launchers - which diffuse tear gas - and disencirclement grenades, used in the event of close assailants.
Two of the seven police officers civil parties to the trial attended the hearing.
Several of their colleagues – including Commissioner Henri Louis Fouilland – were present in the room to support them.
The main victim is a police commander, who – at the time of one of the two salvos – was behind the line of shields.
The police were in retreat.
The officer received a first fireworks display at chest height, before falling to the ground.
A few seconds later, a second incendiary device ricocheted on the ground, before passing under its slide, burning his cheek and perforating his right eardrum.
“I have been working in Meaux for six years.
I had never seen mortars of this caliber.
They shaved their heads.
They were tense shots, to hurt us, ”testified the commander.
"We couldn't fight back fast enough," added his colleague.
Their lawyer Me Brigitte Venade hammered it: “Anyone in the street could have been injured, even fatally.
Normally, on July 13, we party, we go out with the family.
The shots were horizontal, incessant, at short distance”.
Defense attorney pleaded for release
From the box, the defendant wanted to convince: “I was on the scene, I witnessed the facts but I am anything but an assailant of the police.
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was not me who fired the mortar", This Meldois – who does not live in the Beauval district – had been arrested a few days after the events by the Departmental Security, which had exploited the images of several video surveillance cameras of the city and those taken by the police body cameras.
A total of seven hours of video.
Deputy prosecutor Myriam Khouas requested three years in prison, two of which are firm, with a warrant of committal, as well as a revocation of four months in prison pronounced during a previous conviction and a ban on appearing in the Beauval district during three years old: “The police did not expect such a scene.
They intervened, with the municipal police, to secure the firefighters.
A burnt-out garbage can in the middle of the road can spread, it's dangerous”.
The prosecutor had no doubt about the identity of the shooter: “We can see the defendant very well on the videos.
His attire does not deceive.
Even if he was not the only one that night and he cannot endorse everything that happened, he must be held responsible for his actions”.
Not really the analysis of Me Magalie Diallo, who pleaded for release.
She returned, photos in hand, to the description of the author of the shooting: “It was a scene of chaos.
Of the twenty individuals, my client – who is two meters tall – is the only one in the box.
Some police officers have described the shooters' attire, and none talk about his height.
On the videos, there are 44 seconds that interest us.
We don't know who is firing the mortar.
My client is only recognized before and after the fact.
He was not the only one wearing a sleeveless down jacket and a football shirt.
The judges did not follow his demonstration and sentenced the defendant to three years in prison, including 18 months firm, with a warrant of committal, with revocation of four months in prison and a ban on appearing in Beauval for three years.
