Justice keeps Alexandre Benalla in the viewfinder. The former Elysée mission manager was sentenced on appeal this Friday, September 29 in Paris to three years’ imprisonment, including one year subject to change, in the case of violence committed during the Parisian demonstration of May 1, 2018. The sentence is identical to that handed down at first instance.
Now aged 32, the former close friend of President Emmanuel Macron was also found guilty again of having fraudulently used his diplomatic passports after his dismissal, fabricated a false document to obtain a service passport and carried illegally a weapon in 2017. Enough to trigger a political scandal after the publication of images of a demonstration at Place de la contrescarpe on May 1, 2018 by the newspaper The world. His responses had shaken Emmanuel Macron’s power for months, to the rhythm of press revelations and hearings before parliamentary committees.
Banned from holding public office for 5 years
More than five years after the political scandal that bears his name, Alexandre Benalla, in a dark blue suit and round glasses, listened at the bar to the decision pronounced in a few seconds, without justification for the sentence. The man who now lives in Switzerland and works in the private sector did not make a statement leaving the courtroom.
The court of appeal confirmed the prison sentence imposed by the criminal court on November 5, 2021, as well as the fine of 500 euros and the bans on carrying a weapon for 10 years and holding public office for 5 years. If the court had directly arranged the prison in first instance for home detention under electronic bracelet, the court of appeal decided to let a sentence enforcement judge (JAP) decide on the appropriate arrangement.
The sentence of his co-defendant and friend Vincent Crase, 50, was also confirmed: two years in prison, a fine of 500 euros and a 10-year ban on carrying a weapon. The images of the two men at Place de la Contrescarpe, filmed by journalist and activist Taha Bouhafs, sparked a political storm in July 2018, when The world had identified, under the helmet of the police, this close friend of the president.
Benalla and Crase, who only attended the parade as observers, were also prosecuted for having brutalized several people in the Latin Quarter on the sidelines of the Paris demonstration. They were nevertheless acquitted for the violence concerning a young woman in the Jardin des Plantes. Since the start of the affair, Alexandre Benalla has maintained that he had wanted, “citizen reflex”, “call out” of the “aggressors” police officers, during a demonstration punctuated by incidents. The court of appeal considered on the contrary, like the court, that the two defendants were indeed guilty of violence in a meeting and of usurping the position of police officer that day.