Three officials of the brigade of repression of the motorized violent action (BRAV-M) were sentenced this Thursday, July 10 by the Criminal Court of Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis) for violence committed during an arrest in Paris in March 2023, on the sidelines of a demonstration against the pension reform.
The facts occurred on the night of March 20, 2023. That evening, seven people suspected of having participated in degradations were arrested by a BRAV-M crew. One of the young men arrested then discreetly recorded the exchanges with the police. Audio extracts from this recording, broadcast in the media three days later, had caused a lively stir and aroused a reaction from the Paris police prefect.
These recordings allowed the justice to give precision gestures and remarks to the agents present. One of them, found guilty of having brought two shots to the face of Souleyman Adoum Souleyman, a Chadian student, when he was sitting on the ground and showed no threatening or casual behavior, was sentenced to a year in suspended prison, two years of prohibition to exercise the police profession, and 450 euros fine. The prosecution had initially required a suspended four -month prison sentence and a year of ban.
“You, I would have farted your legs well”
A second civil servant was found guilty for having uttered verbal threats against the same student, in particular by declaring: “You, I would have farted your legs well (…). The next time you come, you will not go up in the bus to go to the police station, you will go up in another thing that is called ambulance to go to the hospital”. He was sentenced to eight months suspended prison sentence, one year of ban on exercising and 450 euros fine. During the trial, this policeman apologized to the victim, who had been a civil party.
A third agent, also found guilty for verbal violence, received a fine of 2,000 euros.
The president of the 14th chamber, Youssef Badr, recalled the gravity of the facts by affirming that “If these sorrows may seem difficult to you, they are just there to remind you that you are not above the laws”. To the three police officers, he also underlined: “You are police officers, you have prerogatives of public power, you have the power to deprive freedom, to carry a weapon. In this, gentlemen, you must be impeccable”.
