“I’m sincerely sorry“. Accused of having thrown a grenade outside of any regulatory framework which blinded a trade unionist in 2016, a CRS who denies it asked “sorryMonday, at the opening of his trial before the assizes of Paris.
Six years after the facts which led to his being tried before a popular jury for the crime of willful violence by a person holding public authority which resulted in mutilation or permanent disability, Alexandre M., 54-year-old brigadier-in-chief, would like to make an opening statement.
“Sincerely sorry”
At the bar, the policeman, who appears free under judicial supervision, says to himself “deeply, sincerely sorry for the serious injuryinflicted on Laurent Theron, who lost his right eye after being hit by a grenade while demonstrating against the labor law in September 2016 in Paris.
Turning to the union activist seated to his left on the bench of the civil party, the accused, gray suit, shaved head and thin beard, adds, looking contrite: “I apologize to him“. The policeman, who had just joined his CRS company after “twenty years of night policing“, including ten as brigade leader, has always supported a legitimate grenade throwing, also highlighting his lack of training.
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The investigating judges who had sent him to an assize court, and not to a criminal court as requested by the prosecution, had on the contrary noted a throw “unjustified“, decided the “own initiativeof the CRS when neither he nor his company were in danger.
After a demonstration peppered with clashes, the procession of opponents of the labor law reached the Place de la République on September 15, 2016 around 4:20 p.m. The demonstrators, sparse, are being dispersed when half an hour later, according to images projected by the court, Laurent Theron collapses on his knees, hit by a pebble from a disencirclement hand grenade (GMD).
“Sad case”
This powerful and regulated weapon, which projects 18 small rubber pebbles of 10 g each at an average speed of 450 km / h, has since disappeared from the arsenal of law enforcement, replaced by a model deemed less dangerous. Alexandre M. had reported to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), which was looking for a left-handed policeman who threw GMD on the day of the incident.
According to the investigation, the chief brigadier had seized this grenade during a resupply, when he was not authorized to use them, and had fired it without receiving the order, which is prohibited by the GMD employment doctrine. The CRS claimed to have acted in self-defense after receiving a projectile on the arm from a group of hostile demonstrators.
Neither the witnesses nor the videos used confirmed the statements of the chief brigadier, supports at the bar the major of the IGPN in charge of the investigation, heard as a witness in the afternoon. “We searched“, he adds, in front of the insistence of the defence, which accuses him of an investigation exclusively “dependent“.
“I like helping people”
The accused will be questioned on the facts later. Looking back on his journey until he calls it “sad affair“, Alexandre M. confidently puts forward his “self control)and his concern for protection. “I like helping people“, repeats the accused, arousing some outraged reactions in the public, where massed on one side of the room the supporters of the trade unionist, on the other those of the policeman.
Management controller in a radio in his early years, Alexandre M. had joined the police at the age of 28, climbing the ranks to become a brigadier-in-chief. He had asked to be transferred to a CRS company for “change horizon» and by «financial attractiveness“.
Since his indictment and his placement under judicial supervision with a ban on carrying a weapon and exercising on public roads, Alexandre M. has been assigned to the maintenance department of his CRS company. His trial is scheduled until Wednesday.
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