Three people accused of damage during a demonstration against pension reform in Rodez in April were sentenced this Wednesday to fines of around 10,000 euros in total.
They were accused of having thrown paint on the facade of the Aveyron prefecture.
A fourth person was acquitted of damage charges.
At the hearing on January 17, the public prosecutor, Esther Paillette, notably requested a four-month suspended prison sentence for each of the defendants.
She also requested a 250 euro fine for each and the obligation to compensate the prefecture.
“You are not here for demonstrating, nor for your political opinions, but for a criminal offense,” she told them.
“The archetype of a police procedural”
The four defendants had asserted their right to silence, limiting themselves to reading a text at the bar in which they claimed “to have gathered on April 14 (…) after the Constitutional Council validated this abject reform”.
“We were worried by the police in this case because of our past and present political commitments (…) But no, we did not throw paint on the prefecture building,” according to the text.
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The prefecture's lawyer, Lucie Debruyne, had requested nearly 7,000 euros in damages for repairs and cleaning of the facade.
“It’s the archetype of a police procedure,” declared one of the defense lawyers, Sébastien Delorge.
“There have been cases like that almost everywhere (…) in the context of pension reform.
These are clearly empty police files and we are asking a criminal court to validate convictions on the basis of nothing,” he added.