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A hate speech, transformed into violent acts": the prosecutor's office on Thursday requested up to a year in prison against eight men suspected of having formed "a militia" and beaten migrants in Calais in early 2016. Hooded, gloved, dressed in black, these men assaulted at night, according to the investigation, isolated migrants, usually on the edge of the "Jungle".
They molested their victims with iron bars, batons or fists, before stealing their money and mobile phones. One calls himself a "patriot", consciously gone on a "crusade"; Others, younger, regret having "allowed themselves to be enlisted".
Only five of the eight defendants, with contrasting profiles, were present Thursday at the hearing, marked by the absence of a ninth man, alleged "leader", Christophe G., 55, whose case was disjointed - his summons to appear was issued out of time. Aged between 26 and 51, seven defendants are on trial for their "participation in a combat group", which caused fewer than six victims, including a teenager, between January and February 2016. The eighth is being tried, inter alia, for having served as a "lookout" and "driver".
"Guru"
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Cranial-facial trauma, fracture of the orbit, subarachnoid hemorrhage": the court highlighted the violence of the injuries inflicted on the victims, including three Syrian nationals, molested and robbed on January 21, 2016 in Calais. Two had been awarded 10 days of ITT (total incapacity for work). Suspected of having abused each of the victims, Jefferson G., 31, called Thursday the alleged leader, Christophe G., a "guru, as in a cult".
Trembling hands on his black sweatshirt with the effigy of the crazy superhero Deadpool, he swears to have been "manipulated". Christophe G., whom the defendants met in anti-migrant demonstrations or on social networks, said he wanted to "defend the inhabitants" near the "Jungle", then populated by several thousand migrants, he explains.
According to the investigation, this man would have first proposed to his accomplices to accompany him "take photos" of the supposed "abuses" of migrants in the region, before suggesting the creation of a "Calais guard". He "gave orders", "threatened" those who refused to participate, had also assured during the investigation several implicated, admitting to have signed a "charter of commitment". "He wanted to make a militia. He gave me an armband with a number, "recalled Thursday the "driver" and father of Jefferson, Stéphane G., 52, leaning on a cane.
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I had a fear of migrants because of what we saw on the media, on social networks, "says Arnaud L., the youngest. Aged 19 at the time, he says he "let himself be enlisted" by his father-in-law Johnny P., considered in the investigation as the right arm of Christophe G. "I wanted to please him". But during the January 21 attack, "I saw the violence, and I was shocked. It was a click," he says.
Placed two months in pre-trial detention, the young man will then radically change: in 2020, he joins the National Society for Sea Rescue (SNSM) and participates in many migrant rescue operations in the Channel, which will earn him a medal and the congratulations of the maritime prefect.
Commando
His profile contrasts with that of Nino P., 35 years old, tight T-shirt on tattooed muscles, who assumes to have joined this "commando". His answer, when the president asked him if he felt on a "crusade": "yes, for me, that was it. I am patriotic: the France will not be taken away from us.
»The prosecutor requested prison sentences against four of the eight defendants, including one year against the alleged right-hand man, Johnny P., and six months against the repentant, Arnaud L.. For the other four, he asked for suspended prison sentences.