BENALLA. The appeal trial of Alexandre Benalla opened this Friday, June 9 before the Paris Court of Appeal. In 2021, he was sentenced at first instance to three years in prison, one of which is firm, for violence perpetrated during the May Day demonstrations in 2018. What is he at risk?
[Mis à jour le 9 juin 2023 à 14h25] The Benalla affair shook French society five years ago. This Friday, June 9, she returns to the front of the media scene with the opening of the appeal trial of Alexandre Benalla before the Paris Court of Appeal, indicates The world. The former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron is notably prosecuted for having committed violence against three men and two women while trying to arrest them on the sidelines of the demonstrations of May 1 in 2018 in Paris. Alexandre Benalla then wore a CRS helmet and an armband. However, he was present alongside the police only as an “observer” during the May Day demonstrations. Alexandre Benalla was then project manager at the Elysée, and coordinated the official and private trips of President Emmanuel Macron.
In addition to these facts for which he is being prosecuted for “violence in meetings”, Alexandre Benalla is also accused of having illegally carried a handgun in 2017. In question, a selfie taken at the time on which we see him showing off with a gun in hand. He is finally targeted by the charge of “forgery, use of forgery in writing and public use without the right of a badge” and “fraudulent use of diplomatic passports”. He is indeed accused of having continued to use two diplomatic passports for business trips to Africa and Israel, even though he had been dismissed by the Elysée.
Initially, the start of this appeal trial had been set for the end of January 2023. But the hearing had been postponed at the request of Alexandre Benalla, who had justified it by ” personal and health difficulties. In an introductory remarks at the opening of the trial on Friday, he declared before the Paris Court of Appeal: “I undoubtedly made many errors, not by provocation, but by clumsiness. Errors of youth of a man who felt cornered,” reports West France. Alexandre Benalla “regretted” the “numerous damages, direct or indirect” of the facts of which he was accused during the demonstrations of May 1.
Alexandre Benalla then clarified that he is now working as an “adviser in an NGO in Switzerland”, a country in which he has been living for two years. Above all, he indicated that he wanted to “limit” his appeal from the judgment at first instance “only to acts of voluntary violence” for which he is being prosecuted in the context of the May Day demonstration in 2018. “I thought I was acting in the framework of the law,” he said. As a reminder, he had been sentenced at first instance to one year in prison. Alexandre Benalla could see his sentence increased or, on the contrary, reduced in the context of this appeal trial.
The former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron also declared that he recognized several offenses for which he had been convicted at first instance, including those relating to the use of two diplomatic passports when he had been dismissed from the Elysée, and in the selfie where we see him showing off with a handgun. “I did not bring any weapons with me that day, but I took the photo”, he said on Friday, acknowledging a “lack of discernment”, still according to West France. The end of the trial is set for June 16.
On November 5, 2021, Alexandre Benalla was sentenced at first instance for these facts to three years in prison, including one firm, by the Paris Criminal Court. He was also banned from holding any public office for 5 years, as well as from carrying a weapon for ten years. He was also fined 500 euros. As reminded The world, Alexandre Benalla had then refuted almost all of the charges brought against him during this trial, and had indicated that he had acted during the demonstrations of May 1 “by reflex” citizen. The Paris Criminal Court had then evoked in its judgment “absurd and irresponsible explanations”.
1er May 2018, Laurent Simonin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Directorate of Public Order and Traffic (DOPC) of the police headquarters, invites Alexandre Benalla, project manager at the Elysée, to participate in a demonstration alongside the police intervention units, as an observer. Around 8 p.m., the latter was therefore in the company of a CRS unit at Place de la Contrescarpe, in Paris. While a couple throws projectiles in the direction of the CRS, Alexandre Benalla is filmed, wearing a helmet and a policeman’s armband, grabbing the woman by the neck and dragging her away. He then reappears without his armband and punches the man repeatedly. Journalist Taha Bouhafs posted the video on social media the same day, mistaking Alexandre Benalla for a police officer.
In the days that followed, the video was transmitted anonymously to the IGPN, which decided not to follow up on the report. The Elysée is also informed of the actions of Alexandre Benalla and suspends him from his duties for two weeks. On July 18, 2018, The world, having identified Alexandre Benalla on the video, reveals his identity and his link with the Elysée in an article. The case caused a scandal. The next day, the prosecution opened a preliminary investigation for “violence by a person responsible for a public service mission”, “usurpation of functions” and “usurpation of signs reserved for public authority”.
On July 22, 2018, Alexandre Benalla was indicted, at the same time as he was fired from the Elysée. Three agents suspected of having illegally transmitted CCTV images to him are also suspended and indicted, as well as Vincent Crase, a former gendarmerie reservist, in charge of security at LREM, who was alongside Alexandre Benalla on May 1. Vincent Crase is also on appeal in Paris from this Friday, June 9, 2023. After the explosion of the case, new videos showing Alexandre Benalla on May 1 begin to circulate. On July 27, 2018, Release publishes a video of a demonstration at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase appear there framing a third man, whom they hold at arm’s length and prevent from fleeing. On July 31, demonstrators present file a complaint. On November 29, 2018, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a second investigation into Alexandre Benalla for new acts of violence that occurred on May 1.
Alexandre Benalla is therefore not only judged for alleged acts of violence for which he is accused. The former Elysée employee is also the subject of an investigation related to the use of two diplomatic passports for business trips to Africa and Israel when he was fired by the Elysée Palace. In addition, Alexandre Benalla is implicated for the prohibited carrying of a handgun. On April 28, 2017, he showed off in a selfie with a gun in his hand, alongside a woman and two men. A photo taken in a restaurant in Poitiers (Vienne), after a meeting with Emmanuel Macron.