Encouraged by the crowd, he forced the entry of the ministry of the former government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux with a forklift in 2019. A yellow vest was sentenced this Friday to 18 months imprisonment, including nine months suspended probation.
Judged with four other demonstrators in this case, this 25-year-old employee in the fire piping had admitted the facts and will have to compensate the State: the damage caused to the building, classified as historical monuments, amounted to more than 100 000 euros.
His sentence will be arranged with an electronic bracelet.
During the trial at the end of October, he had recognized a "stupid" action and assured, like the other defendants, that he was unaware of attacking a ministry.
Two other protesters convicted
This attempted intrusion, on January 5, 2019, marked a turning point in the social movement, a month after the sacking of the Arc de Triomphe.
Quickly evacuated from his office, Griveaux then denounced "an inadmissible attack against the Republic".
VIDEO. Benjamin Griveaux evacuated: "We will not give in to violence"
“A demonstration is an important freedom for democracy and degrading during a demonstration is to pervert this freedom.
And that is something that cannot be accepted, ”explained Judge Caroline Kuhmumch, stating the deliberations of the Paris judicial tribunal.
Unlike the prosecution, which demanded convictions for all five yellow vests for the damage to the ministry and the theft of the construction machine, the judges greatly differentiated the responsibilities of each.
They fully released two of the protesters and convicted two others.
Two releases
The youngest of the defendants was sentenced to eight months' suspended probation.
"You
got
on the
Fenwick
knowing full well that it had been stolen," the judge told the 23-year-old, declaring him an accomplice in the damage and guilty of receiving stolen goods.
His lawyer has posted his intention to appeal.
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A third defendant, who had committed damage to two bank branches near the ministry, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, including six months with probationary suspension.
A sentence that he too must serve under an electronic bracelet.
Finally, a former town hall employee, who had filmed the scene, and a polisher, whom investigators suspected of having participated in the theft of the forklift, were released.
The prosecution "continued badly from the start and luckily, the court was able to put things in their place," responded Martin Mechin, the worker 's lawyer.
In this case, "the prosecution was responding to media-political pressure", wanting to prosecute these five demonstrators together "in spite of all common sense", said Eduardo Mariotti, the lawyer for the former municipal employee, welcoming the "Snub" pronounced by the court.
