The three suspects were arrested in front of the Elysee Palace. – NICOLAS MESSYASZ / SIPA
Two people, including a Belarusian artist, received a reminder to the law for an action presented as politico-artistic, after being arrested Thursday evening in front of the Elysee with a bottle with a fabric previously set on fire, announced the prosecution of Paris, Friday.
Arrested with a third person, they were taken into police custody for “willful violence with a weapon”.
The man had come “to accomplish a revolution”
According to the first elements of the investigation unveiled by the public prosecutor, “the man appeared Thursday evening in front of the Elysee Palace, holding in his hand a bottle containing a liquid (identified as not being a hydrocarbon) and a piece of tissue previously inflamed ”. “In front of the police presence, he threw his bottle in the direction of the ground”, specified the same source. According to a source close to the case, confirming information from the Point, this is a 33-year-old Belarusian artist, Alexei Kuzmich.
He was referred for a reminder to the law, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. On his Instagram account, the artist provides in a publication entitled “Letter to Macron. President. France ”to have come“ to accomplish a revolution ”, in a country which“ today broods with fascism ”.
One of the suspects admitted to the psychiatric infirmary of the prefecture of police
The artist compares the French president to Alexander Lukashenko, who has been the subject of a great protest movement since 2020 that he tries to weaken by mass arrests, violence having left at least four dead and heavy sentences of prison that continue to fall.
The other two people with him, a man and a woman, “took photographs and videos of the scene,” said the Paris prosecutor’s office. The woman was also the subject of a reminder to the law by an officer of the judicial police, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, while the man taking photographs, was admitted to the psychiatric infirmary of the prefecture of police ( I3P) and will be reconvened later. The investigation was entrusted to the criminal brigade.