At the Paris judicial court,
Panic at the police headquarters. This July 19, 2018, in the early morning, Laurent Simonin tries several times to reach Alexandre Benalla on his mobile. The policeman understood too late that he had made a “huge mistake” by giving the former Elysee mission manager, the day before, a CD containing images captured by the city’s surveillance cameras. from Paris. Which is illegal. “We then try to repair it”, explains this Monday the Comptroller General who, at the time, was a member of the staff of the DOPC [direction de l’ordre public et de la circulation]. But at the time, Alexandre Benalla does not seem decided to return the videos supposed to legitimize his intervention and that of Vincent Crase, on May 1, 2018, place de la Contrescarpe. They will also be broadcast later by an employee of LREM who runs the @ FrenchPolitic Twitter account.
These images were recovered from May 2, 2018 by Commissioner Maxence Creusat. The day before, he commanded a unit of CRS mobilized on the occasion of the demonstration on May 1. But the video of a muscular, not to say brutal, arrest has been running for a few hours on social networks. The DOPC, Alain Gibelin, is furious and organizes an emergency meeting. Laurent Simonin had not warned him of the presence that day of Alexandre Benalla alongside the CRS. Commissioner Creusat then asks the Synapse cell to extract from the surveillance cameras the images showing the man arrested by Benalla and Crase throwing something at the police. Why ? “On a demonstration like that, we have behind dozens and dozens of demands,” from the IGPN or the defender of rights, affirms Maxence Creusat.
” It’s a mistake “
He is given two CDs, which he keeps in his office. But after the DOCP’s anger, things seem to calm down on the Île de la Cité. Until July 18, 2018 and the publication of an article from Le Monde by Ariane Chemin. The evening daily announces that it has identified “on a video, a Macron collaborator hitting a protester on May 1 in Paris”. Maxence Creusat remembers the existence of this CD and calls his supervisor to suggest that he hand it over to the Elysee. These images, he thinks, make it possible to “objectify” what “really happened” at the Place de la Contrescarpe. It is not Benalla “the man” that he wants to protect, but the “institution” that he represents, “the cabinet of the Élysée”.
Laurent Simonin “validates this idea”. “It’s a mistake,” admits the police officer today. But he felt “responsible” for the situation in which Alexandre Benalla found himself. “It was I who had the idea to bring Benalla to the event so I feel indebted. He calls her and offers to entrust him with these images of which, he swears, he was not unaware of the origin. That turns out well. For several hours, a media “tsunami” has swept over Benalla. And he fears that the wave will also reach Emmanuel Macron. These images, he said to himself, would allow him to explain “the context in which the video takes place,” he said at the helm. He spends the evening with Vincent Crase at the Damas café, a hookah bar located rue du Colisée, a stone’s throw from the Château.
“It will be useful for your defense”
Meanwhile, Laurent Simonin, who is on his vacation route, puts Maxence Creusat in touch with Jean-Yves Hunault, the liaison officer between the police headquarters and the Elysee. The two men go to the premises of the DOPC to make a copy of the CD. But failing to do so, they rush to rue de l’Université, to the commissioner’s home, to do so with his personal computer. Alexandre Benalla is still waiting for them at the Damascus café where he receives many support calls, including that of Sibeth Ndiyae or General Eric Bio Farina, the military commander of the Elysee. When the two men arrive, Vincent Crase sees that Hunault is giving something to Benalla. “After what did he give her?” Where did it come from? The former employee of LREM claims to ignore him, adding that he was not in his “normal state at that time”. “We saw each other on the screens, they only talked about that. “
Benalla’s idea is to entrust the CD to Ismaël Emelien, special advisor to the president, in particular in charge of communication. But in the early morning, the police realize that they should never have given him these images, while the Paris prosecutor’s office is preparing to open an investigation. “It will be useful for your defense, but the police headquarters must provide it to the courts,” Simonin explains to Benalla on the phone. However, Benalla does not seem willing to return the CD to him. “He did not seem very, very cooperative, the dialogue is a bit complicated,” recalls the policeman. The trial of Alexandre Benalla is to last until October 1. He faces up to seven years in prison and a 100,000 euros fine.
Follow the trial live on our journalist’s twitter account @TiboChevillard