The former protege of Emmanuel Macron, Alexandre Benalla, is retried for violence committed against demonstrators in Paris on May 1, 2018. A file at the origin of what has become the Benalla affair.
4 and a half years later, the social context remains tense. Alexandre Benalla is on appeal from this Friday for violence committed against three demonstrators at Place de la Contrescarpe in Paris, on May 1, 2018, while he was present at the demonstration as an observer alongside the police. This case marked the beginning of legal troubles for the former protege of Emmanuel Macron, ex-charge de mission at the Élysée.
Alexandre Benalla, sentenced at first instance, will not be present this afternoon at the opening of the proceedings, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., before the Paris Court of Appeal. He has requested a dismissal for personal reasons and will therefore be represented by his lawyer, Me Jacqueline Laffont. The hearing of the day will then be devoted to the examination of this request for dismissal, which the court can accept or reject.
Sentenced to 3 years in prison at first instance
Alexandre Benalla is accused of having molested three men and two women while trying to arrest them on the sidelines of the May 1, 2018 demonstration in Paris, wearing a police helmet, while he was only attending the parade. as an “observer”. The “Benallagate” broke out on July 18, 2018, after it was identified by the newspaper The world on a video where he brutalized a couple on the Place de la Contrescarpe.
At first instance, he had been sentenced to three years in prison, including a firm one, under an electronic bracelet, a ban on holding public employment for five years and a ban on carrying a weapon for ten years.
At the hearing, he had denied almost all of the charges, claiming to have acted “by reflex” citizen, but not hesitating “to give absurd and irresponsible explanations”, according to the judgment of the Paris Criminal Court.
“Protect public order”
His sidekick Vincent Crase, at the time in charge of security at the En Marche party (now Renaissance), will also appear again on the bench of the defendants for “violence in meetings”, “prohibited carrying” of a telescopic baton and “interference in a public office” for illegally participating in the arrest of three people. He is also accused of having forced one of these people to erase a video taken with his mobile phone.
A longtime friend of Alexandre Benalla, this 49-year-old reservist ex-gendarme had been sentenced at first instance to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a ban on carrying a weapon.
“He acted to protect public order and therefore he will seek his release,” his lawyer, Robin Binsard, told AFP.
The other two defendants in the first trial did not appeal. They are former officials of the Paris police headquarters, one sentenced to a three-month suspended prison sentence and the other to a fine of 5,000 euros for having transmitted video surveillance images to Alexandre Benalla on the evening of the publication of the article World.
Other investigations in progress
The broadcast of this video had triggered the Benalla affair. The 30-year-old must also be retried on appeal for “forgery, use of forgery in writing and public use without the right to a badge” for having continued to travel with diplomatic passports after his dismissal from the Élysée. He also held a service passport obtained fraudulently according to the prosecution. The former close collaborator of the President of the Republic is finally being accused of having illegally carried a handgun in 2017.
Alexandra Benalla is also the subject of three other preliminary investigations. One concerns his role in signing contracts with Russian oligarchs while he was in office at the Elysée. Another, opened in February 2019 for “obstructing the manifestation of the truth”, aims to determine whether Alexandre Benalla concealed evidence as part of the investigation into the violence of May 1, 2018, in particular two safes.
Finally, the third, launched in April 2019, relates to suspicions of “false testimony” by Alexandre Benalle and Vincent Crase before the Senate commission of inquiry into the case.
