After the confusion, Justice regains its rights. The Lyon prosecutor’s office said on Saturday that it had opened investigations following incidents that marked the end of a trial at the assizes the day before, in particular concerning a gesture from the brother of the victim, which at least one witness would have perceived as a Nazi salute. These incidents occurred on Friday evening after the sentencing of a 24-year-old man, Youcef Tebbal, 12 years of criminal imprisonment for having knocked down and killed in a car Axelle Dorier, 22, dragged over more than 800 m in July 2020 in Lyon.
“One of the family members of the victim of the crime on trial, who was heard this Saturday morning, broke a window and made a gesture for which the investigations are continuing to determine the exact nature”, explained the prosecution, confirming an information of the regional daily Le Progrès. This investigation was opened for “public provocation to hatred or violence” and for “voluntary damage”, said the prosecution.
Shortly after the statement of the verdict, a woman standing on the side of the families of the defendants had cried then made a faintness. Visibly not supporting the scene, one of Axelle Dorier’s brothers then headed for an exit from the courtroom. On the doorstep, he turned around before insulting the woman, raising his arm, noted an AFP journalist. This gesture was publicly interpreted as a Nazi salute by at least one witness.
A person referred for immediate appearance
“I asked him if he had done that (note: a Nazi salute). He responded to me : Never ! And that he had this gesture to say Get the hell out of me! “, declared to AFP the lawyer of the young man, Me Gabriel Versini-Bullara, who did not see the scene. He then broke “a window with his fist” in a corridor adjoining the courtroom, testified defense lawyer David Metaxas, present in the room.
In addition, a person was referred for an immediate appearance, after beatings on police officers in the waiting room, according to the prosecution.
The identity group Les Remparts has several times seized on the death of Axelle Dorier, through social networks in particular. A photo posted on his Twitter account showed about fifteen activists behind a banner with racist connotations on Saturday, a priori taken Friday after the trial outside the courthouse.