Justice has returned his verdict against the man who had lit his cigarette with the flame of the unknown soldier. He was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with an 18 -month suspended stay on Friday to three months by the Paris Court of Paris.
Hakim H. was tried in immediate appearance for violation of burial, tomb, urn or monument built in memory of the dead, after his Monday evening gesture which had aroused indignation on social networks.
My guilt
“I bitterly regret, I apologize to all French people,” said the 47 -year -old work vehicle driver before bursting into sobs in the accused box. The man, domiciled in Normandy and sleeping in his workplace in Paris during the week, recognized the facts which were criticized for him, qualifying his act of “stupidity of the century”.
“It is a victory,” reacted his lawyer, Me José Lebughe Mangai, who hoped “a sentence proportionate to the facts”, and this “taking into account his criminal past”, he underlined about the 28 mentions to the criminal record of his client.
Under alcohol and medication at the time of the facts
Hakim H., of Moroccan nationality and in regular situations on French territory, said during the hearing that he “acted mechanically”, under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the facts. Psychiatric expertise in the investigation revealed “polytoxicomania, alcohol addiction, and ADHD (deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity)”. A bipolar mood disorder was also diagnosed in 2019, said the president of the hearing.
Our justice file
The court has accompanied its suspended imprisonment sentence of an obligation to care and the payment of a symbolic euro at the center of national monuments, which had been civil.
Retail
A report to justice had been made by the prefect of police as well as by Patricia Mirallès, Minister Delegate in charge of memory and veterans, after a video of the scene had circulated on Tuesday on social networks. The images showed Hakim H. squatting near the flame of the unknown soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to light a cigarette before leaving quietly, under the gaze of a few tourists.
The Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau had denounced on X a gesture “unworthy and miserable”, which infringes the memory of those who died for France “. The Minister’s entourage had indicated his wish to withdraw from Hakim H. his residence permit.