And there were only six left. Of the hundred arrests announced after the chaos around the Stade de France, Saturday May 28, the 48 police custody counted Monday morning, the “hoards of city thugs” pointed … Remain these six men aged 21 to 39, who parade Tuesday, May 31 in immediate appearance before the criminal court of Bobigny, for theft of telephones, a watch or even a necklace snatched from the surroundings of the Stade de France. “All other police custody has been lifted”says the prosecution.
Osama K. is the first to be condemned during this overloaded hearing afternoon. Yellow mask under his chin, curly hair, he recounts this evening during which he tried to enter the stadium, without a ticket, to attend the Champions League final. Once, twice, three times. Without success. And leaving after the match, on the crowded platforms of line 13 of the metro, there he is who puts his hand in the pocket of an English supporter. He will be arrested a few seconds later, after throwing the Englishman’s phone to the ground.
Oussama K. is 24 years old and lives between a tent under a bridge and a sublet room from time to time, when his UberEats deliveries save him a few warm days. He is paperless, so to be able to work, he again sublets an account on the platform for 100 euros per month. “ The exceptional advantages of the start-up nation », slips his lawyer, Loïc Le Quellec. His client, who cannot read or write, recently traded in his scooter for a bicycle and some cash. Each month, he sends a hundred euros to his mother and his four brothers and sisters, who remained in Algeria.
A little over a year ago, Oussama K. arrived in France by boat, because he loved Paris, he imagined finding a job and his family ate only one meal a day in Algeria. The translator translates his plea into Arabic: “Give me any punishment, but not prison. » He promises to “from France”, that we will not catch him doing that. His record was empty until then. “Anyway, you are going to leave France because you have to”loose the president of the court, pronouncing four letters recently added to his file by the prefecture: “OQTF”, for obligation to leave French territory.
A business with an “international dimension”
The prosecutor rises to discuss a “disturbance to public order that goes beyond the scope of the hearing”the “specific context” and the ” international dimension “ of the case. She requires ten months in prison with a warrant. The room holds its breath. Ten months closed with immediate departure in prison for a phone theft by a first offender, the defense lawyer is amazed. But since we have to talk about the ” context “Me The Quellec does not need to be asked: “Can we, in this case, take into account in the context the declarations of the Ministry of the Interior: it would therefore be first the fault of the English supporters and then the fault of those? Maybe the story could be a bit more nuanced? »
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