His story inspired the film
BAC Nord
, directed by Cédric Jimenez and released in cinemas in 2021. Sébastien Soulé is the portrait of the week by Audrey Crespo-Mara this Sunday February 11 in “Sept à quatre”.
On October 17, 2012, the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) knocked on the door of this BAC Nord brigadier.
He is placed in police custody on several charges including “possession of drugs”.
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“Every room in the house goes through it, the garden, the car,”
the police officer remembers.
He would not return home until several weeks after this search.
He was incarcerated for 69 days.
The accusations come from a former member of the brigade who gives details
“as enormous as they are grotesque”
, according to Sébastien Soulé.
Along with 17 other colleagues, he is suspected of “organized drug trafficking”.
To
“help himself to seizures and racketeer the dealers”
he calls out.
In a word, to be “a scoundrel”.
He is indicted by the Marseille prosecutor's office, which describes the phenomenon as
"gangrene"
.
“Too fast, too hard.
He wanted to quickly manage the crisis situation.
The media hype has taken over
,” he explains, this evening on TF1.
10 years of procedure
“You feel like you’re being wrung out. You suffer from day to day
,” he adds.
During his time in prison, only one thought occupied his mind:
“don’t break down”
.
He is placed in solitary confinement for his protection.
At night, he hears other inmates shouting his name.
“I always wondered how they got my first name
,” remembers Sébastien Soulé, who then felt in danger.
Read alsoBAC nord, they finally speak: the BFMTV documentary series looks back on the affair that shook Marseille
After ten years of investigation, he was exonerated in April 2021.
“A relief”
for the police officer.
The brigadier is ultimately only convicted of tax evasion because the conversations when he is wiretapped only reveal the sale of a second home, paid partly in cash,
“a kickback to avoid capital gains real estate”
.
“There we say to ourselves that it's over, we can move on to something else
,” he testifies with emotion before adding:
“Nine years of procedure which are finally coming to an end.
Nine years of suspicion.
Behind all these police officers, there are broken families and lives.
We don’t talk about that
. ”
If this storm is now behind him, Sébastien Soulé still has a
“feeling of shame”
towards his family.
“My mother saw her son on TV being called a scoundrel.
I am ashamed of having embarrassed my family in the face of a situation that they should not have experienced
,” continues the police officer who tells his story in a book,
Flic à la BAC Nord
published by City.
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