The story begins with the custody of a young couple. Marion and Elliott were arrested by several police officers from the anti-crime brigade one evening in April 2021, in the city center of Marseille. France is then under a curfew due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The police were called after the report of several people on the scaffolding of a building, and initially believed they were responding to a burglary. On the scaffolding is in reality, among others, a resident of the ground floor, Elliott, drunk after an evening at his house, and who wanted to “get some fresh air”.
A few hours later, the couple was accused of “contempt”, “rebellion” and “intentional violence against persons holding public authority”. In the initial report, the police report in particular that they were victims of a punch in the face from Eliott.
Placed in police custody, the couple left the Noailles police station 43 hours later, with a simple reminder of the law. Marion emerges with psychological and physical after-effects, notably on her arm after falling to the ground during the intervention of the police. A fall “linked to his state of intoxication”, according to the version of the facts given by the police at the Noailles police station.
“Everything that is said is false”
“But the reality of the case is that everything that is said is false,” storms the couple’s lawyer, Mr. Thomas Hugues, brandishing the first arrest report at the bar of the court. And to wonder: “If there had not been the video, would we have had the same trial? »
The video the lawyer is talking about was filmed by a neighbor, before being broadcast on social networks and by Provence a few days after the incident. A video of a few minutes, which immortalizes the intervention of the police and gives a very different version of the facts. A video which brought two of them before the Marseille criminal court this Wednesday, accused of “intentional violence”, including one with the use of a weapon.
A slap to “get attention”
On the big screens of the eleventh chamber, packed with relatives of the victims and colleagues of the police officers involved, the president of the court broadcasts the video and dissects the scene, second by second. The police first take the people down from the scaffolding, including Elliott. Suddenly, people tremble throughout the court benches as the images flash by. It all starts with a first slap, delivered by Chief Brigadier Cyril, to the tipsy young man. “It’s a blow gun, exactly,” explains the police officer. A way to “get his attention”, according to him. “When we’re there, it’s the right thing to do,” he explains. It’s one AM. We’re under curfew. From the start, we have been taken for idiots. It’s a joke, so we had to reframe and make people understand why we were there. »
“We may have been too nice”
The young man protests loudly. The policeman headbutts him. “I push him away with my head,” he corrects at the bar. It must be three or four times that I say he doesn’t have a mask, that I ask him to stop spitting on me and he doesn’t care at all. So I push him with my head. » Several blows followed at Elliott, before he was dragged by the hair to the police car.
Seeing the scene, his companion Marion leaves the apartment. She finds herself pushed several times by another police officer, Mélik, before falling to the ground the first time. “I pushed her back so that she was as far away from the intervention as possible,” explains the police officer. At his side, his colleague Cyril gets annoyed behind the court bar. If the two police officers are there, it is for a simple reason according to him. “We may have been too nice,” he says. We should have challenged everyone from the start and not tried to understand. »
“We are on the verge of an attack”
While Marion is on the ground, one of her friends, Clément, intervenes, and is himself assaulted. A few seconds later, police officer Mélik sprays Marion with tear gas, which causes her to fall again. “Let us stop saying that we are being arrested,” says Mr. Hugues. If we say that we are dealing with an attack, then we will have understood everything about this file. » “It didn’t look like a police arrest,” says Clément at the stand. I didn’t want him to continue picking on her. It was my instinct as a citizen and friend when faced with a beating situation. » “My face was burned,” remembers her nurse friend. I still have back pain that I’m still dealing with. Because of my work, it’s quite debilitating. I was arrested for the first time six months and then three months later. » “I have had a strong feeling of injustice from the start,” sighs Eliott.
“Let us stop making people believe that this gentleman followed the carnival procession singing Zumba Cafew “, retorts police officer Cyril’s lawyer, Me Carine Dip, for whom the young man “is entirely responsible for the damage he suffered”. A position similar to her colleague, Mélik’s lawyer, regarding Marion, which leads them both to plead for acquittal. “Videos should not be watched with emotion, as if we were on a television set with a sign for or against,” says Me Félicie Jassem.
“There will be no leniency in this matter”
“Viewing the video in this case is worth all the procedural documents,” argues the prosecutor. “When we have someone who doesn’t listen, we don’t hit them,” protests Sylvie Odier, for whom the use of tear gas was “disproportionate” and the intervention of the police peppered with “gestures of mistreatment “. “Grabbing by the hair to take you to the car, what is that if it is not a vexatious gesture,” asks the prosecutor. It’s no use. » The fault, according to her, lies in the “state of mind” of the police officers who, when “they arrive on site, want to get rid of this file” of burglary which is not one.
“There will be no leniency in this matter,” warns Sylvie Odier, who however dismisses the ban on practicing. The prosecutor therefore requests six months of totally suspended prison time against Mélik, accused of intentional violence with a weapon leading to an ITT of more than eight days, and five months of suspended prison sentence against his colleague, accused of intentional violence. And to remind: “The problem in this file is that they are in denial. And it’s a shame, when violence is accused. As long as we insult quickly, as long as we use familiarity, as long as we do things quickly like that without legal proceedings, it will not work. » The decision was put under advisement until October 25.