The ax fell. Former France football team striker Tony Vairelles was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison, two of which were suspended. The Nancy court has delivered its verdict in this case where the ex-player was tried for violence with a weapon committed almost eleven years earlier when leaving a nightclub.
His three brothers were also sentenced to prison terms: five years, two of which were also suspended for Fabrice Vairelles and three years, two of which were suspended for Jimmy and Giovan. They were tried for having opened fire and injured three security guards at a nightclub in Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) in 2011. Fabrice, Jimmy, Giovan and Tony Vairelles responded to “violence in meetings, with premeditation and with a weapon”, and risked up to ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
The three security guards were given suspended prison sentences: three months for one and four months for the other two. They were prosecuted for violence in meetings with weapons, in this case “a tear gas canister, security barriers and a truncheon”.
The councils of Vairelles had also pleaded the nullity of the procedure, arguing the slowness of the investigation which saw four successive examining magistrates in ten years, a request rejected by the court.
During the trial, the public prosecutor, François Pérain, had requested three years in prison against Tony Vairelles, three years also against his brother Fabrice and 6 months in prison for Giovan and Jimmy. The prosecution had also requested a four-month suspended sentence for one of the security guards, and the release for the other two, recognizing self-defense.
Tony Vairelles, now 49, was selected eight times for the France team, from 1998 to 2000 (1 goal). A colorful striker with the famous “mule cut”, he notably wore the colors of Lens, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bastia and Gueugnon.