The prosecutor regrets that the two peacekeepers are still "in denial". Suspended prison sentences of five and six months were requested Wednesday against two police officers of the anti-crime brigade (Bac) of Marseille for violence against young people during an arrest in full confinement in April 2021.
"We are faced with very bad professional practices that turn into offenses," lamented prosecutor Sylvie Odier, who did not call for a professional ban. Since the facts, the two police officers no longer practice on the public highway. She also regretted that they were "in denial (...). Too bad they didn't make this questioning: didn't I slip? ».
A "blower" to a young man
The court reviewed videos recorded by a neighbour and released to the press. Confronted with young alcoholics who are partying despite the confinement and are mounted on scaffolding, we see the brigadier-chief, responsible for the crew of the Bac, questioning a young man, administering in the first place a "tap" or a "blow gun".
He himself recognizes "an inappropriate and non-regulatory gesture but necessary because he does not stop gesticulating". Then he pins him on the hood, "deliberately headbutts him when there is no danger," according to the prosecutor's interpretation of the images. The young man subdued by two officials then responds with a wave of the hand. He is led handcuffed to the vehicle while the officer grabs him by the hair.
Use of tear gas
The videos also show a young peacekeeper pushing away a young woman who does not accept violence against her partner. He violently threw her to the ground, wounding her, and sprayed her with tear gas before pushing her again, causing a second fall. "I didn't hit her, my goal was for her to go home," the defendant defended. "We are clearly not in an arrest but in an aggression," according to the lawyer of the civil parties, Thomas Hugues, who described as "false" the report of arrest.
"It's an accumulation of lots of useless and disproportionate little things," lamented the prosecutor who requested a five-month suspended prison sentence against the brigadier chief for aggravated violence and a six-month suspended prison sentence against the peacekeeper, who was also accused of using a weapon, the tear gas canister.
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Conceding "perhaps ethical faults but not offenses", Carine Dip and Félicie Jassem called for the release of the two police officers. For the defense, the use of force was "necessary and proportionate" because "on the ground, a police officer has half a second to know if the person takes out of his pocket his keys or a weapon". They will be tried on 25 October.
