A one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros were requested this Friday before the Nice criminal court against Christophe Galtier, prosecuted for discrimination and harassment, mainly against Muslim players, when he was coach of OGC Nice, the 2021-2022 season.
Galtier “clearly sought to reduce the number of blacks and Muslims in the team” by “instrumentalizing Ramadan”, insisted the Nice public prosecutor, Damien Martinelli, in his indictment, evoking the “obsessive” dimension. taken by this month of fasting for the former coach of Paris SG, now at the head of the Qatari club Al-Duhail. “For a professional club, Ramadan is a given. For Christophe Galtier, it’s a problem,” he added.
“A background of ordinary racism”
And the fact that sometimes the Nice coach has fielded players observing the fast in matches “is a false subject: To hinder is to make the activity more difficult. To hinder is to say to the player: ”if you don’t eat, you don’t play”. When we are in this blackmail, we are in obstruction, even if the obstruction was not successful and the player continues to fast,” explained the prosecutor.
Damien Martinelli also mentioned “a background of ordinary racism on which Mr. Galtier is not entirely lucid”, asking the court to imagine whether the comments and facts reported would be acceptable outside the world of football: “I I did not perceive any development, no awareness, no questioning,” denounced the prosecutor.
Word against word
Opening Monday morning, the trial continued into the evening with defense pleadings. Throughout the day, the audience remained at word against word, with Galtier vehemently rejecting certain remarks attributed to him, notably by Julien Fournier, then general manager of the Aiglons, or explaining that others had been distorted or misinterpreted.
Among the civil parties, OGC Nice requested nothing, the Professional Football League requested a symbolic euro and Licra 5,000 euros in damages for its educational and pedagogical work.