At the Nanterre court (Hauts-de-Seine),
The question is at the heart of the debates that have animated French society since the death of Nahel: who are the rioters? Young people revolted by injustice and what they call too much police blunder? Opportunistic criminals who take advantage of the situation to loot tobacconists and shopping malls? Teenagers idle or on vacation, who spend their summer evenings burning cars? “There is no typical profile among the young people implicated, except that they are flabbergasted, shocked, by what happened”, notes Me Camilla Quendolo, who defends this Monday two defendants tried in immediate appearance in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). The first, aged 20, is appearing for threatening police officers with death and posting messages on social networks calling for revenge for Nahel, killed by a police officer during a traffic check on June 27.
“The facts are quite simple,” summarizes the president of the court. On July 1, around 7:20 p.m., Yanis was arrested by the Montrouge police and placed in police custody. The officials are “categorical”: they heard him throw at them, twice: “Justice for Nahel, we are going to kill you”. By searching through his mobile phone, they discover “many videos related to the urban violence that is currently happening”, continues the magistrate. Since the death of the 17-year-old teenager, Yanis has posted numerous stories on Snapchat and sent several vindictive messages on private groups. « Must fuck the schmitts [policiers]that’s the brother plan, ”he asks in particular of the twenty members of this group.
“Make profit”
Yanis also posted a video showing the city police station barricading itself. “They removed the cars, we can’t burn them, too bad,” he commented then. “It’s just words! In the Montrouge sector, there was no scuffle ”, proclaims from his box the young man with long black hair, dressed in dark jogging. “With everything that is happening at the moment, in real life, I was on my nerves,” he adds. The defendant also filmed his friends using mortars or having just stolen an LBD from the police during the riots. In a message, he also offers to loot an Orange store to “make profit” and to break up the Optic 2000 store.
He also let it be known on social networks that he was looking for firework mortar. “The objective was to do anything in Montrouge at the end of the evening,” he admits. “At the start we were all excited about what was happening, we had a little trouble. “Finally, “a big brother” from the neighborhood would have come to talk to them to convince them to be on the sidelines. “He threatened to kill us if we fired mortars into the city. We all questioned ourselves. »
“I’m not going to shoot a policeman”
Yanis tries to minimize the facts and assures that he published these messages and these videos “without thinking”. “I say everything and anything, I throw everything that comes into my head. He acknowledges that the messages are “rather violent”. “But I have a little head on my shoulders, I’m not going to shoot a policeman, he assures. I don’t intend to kill anyone. He also denies threatening the police.
Football lover, the young man, who grew up in Montrouge lives in Essonne, holds a BEP and a Bac sales. He has been working since January 2023 as a bicycle delivery man. For the public prosecutor, the messages sent only served to “stir up hatred, stir up violence in this context of urban violence”. “The time for education and the outstretched hand is over,” she explains, recalling that the defendant has been convicted twice in the past. The magistrate requires a sentence of six months in prison with a warrant of committal. Finally, Yanis was found guilty and sentenced to eight months in prison, four months of which was suspended on probation for two years. He will also have to follow a citizenship course, look for a job or training and no longer go to Montrouge.
“I think they are confusing”
It is 10:15 p.m. when the second defendant appears in the box, flanked by two police officers. Rayan, 23, is accused of having “possessed and transported incendiary devices”, namely fireworks mortar, recalls the president. He also refused to “give the cell phone unlock code”, which he admits. Gray T-shirt, black hair in a ponytail, thin beard, the young man does not recognize, however, the other charges, he explains, hands behind his back.
He was arrested on the night of Sunday to Monday, in Courbevoie, alongside three other people “a little younger” than him, explains the magistrate. “I was on my way home, I was a bit curious with everything that’s going on at the moment. There was mortar on the ground. There are a few people in the street. But there was no specific crowd, ”he says. “I heard: ‘Get down or I’ll kill you’ and they shot me with the LBD. “He then fled “to avoid being pulled over me” and asked the passengers of a car he “did not know” to take him home. All will be arrested around 2:45 a.m. Officials find after the mortar. “I think they confuse Madame,” Rayan assures the president.
“I think we need to relax him”
The president remarks that he has been convicted “several times for burglary”. “It was several years ago”, blows the defendant who was attacking “shops”. “That evening, did you want to take advantage of it to commit theft? », asks the magistrate. Rayan says no. He also has a BEP in sales and a Bac in sales. He has been working for a year as a delivery driver and plans to found a transport company. The public prosecutor notes several “contradictions in her speech”. According to her, her explanations concerning her presence at the scene of the events and her flight “are not credible”. Stressing that he has already been sentenced five times, it requires a heavy sentence: eleven months in prison.
“He must be released because I think he has not done everything he is accused of”, pleads his lawyer, adding that “his profile does not match” with the alleged facts. After several minutes of deliberation, the president makes her decision shortly before 11:30 p.m. Rayan is released with the benefit of the doubt.
219 kept in custody in the Hauts-de-Seine
In Hauts-de-Seine, 219 people have been taken into custody since the start of the riots. A total of 25 people were tried last weekend in immediate appearance, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office tells us: six were remanded under judicial supervision, four were released due to procedural flaws. A man received a four-month suspended prison sentence with confiscation of his vehicle for violence against the police, another a six-month sentence of house arrest under electronic surveillance. The other defendants were sentenced to community service. In addition, fifteen minors were brought before a juvenile judge.