Almost seven years after the events, the court ruled. The Seine-Saint-Denis Assize Court on Friday sentenced the three police officers to suspended prison sentences of 3 to 12 months.
The three members of the police were sent to court after the arrest in 2017 of Théo Luhaka, then seriously injured in the anus by a baton blow. Highly publicized, the “Theo affair” has become an emblematic case of police violence.
A day of deliberation
For this last day of trial, the court retired around 10:00 a.m. to deliberate. Shortly before, the accused had spoken one last time. “I stand by my statements, I have nothing to add,” said the main accused, Marc-Antoine Castelain, 34 years old.
He was prosecuted for intentional violence resulting in “mutilation or permanent disability” on the victim, with the aggravating circumstances of his status as a person holding public authority, with a weapon and in a meeting. The official risked up to fifteen years in prison.
A case that has become emblematic
It is because Théodore Luhaka has irreversible after-effects of his arrest on February 2, 2017 in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) that the police found themselves before a criminal court for two weeks. A rare occurrence in cases of police violence.
Three years of suspended prison time had been requested against Mr. Castelain, the author of the baton attack which injured Théo Lukaha. For Mr. Dulin, 42 years old, and Mr. Hochart, 31 years old, the attorney general had requested six and three months of suspended prison sentence respectively. Magistrate Loïc Pageot justified them by the “absence of criminal record” of the three accused and the long duration of the case, which changed with the video of the arrest.
This affair caused a wave of indignation and violence in the Paris suburbs. Théo Luhaka had called for calm from his hospital bed, where he had received a visit from the former President of the Republic François Hollande.