Racism, police violence and one producer: 3 police officers tried in France

O trial of three French policemen accused of beating the black music producer Michel Zecler, in November 2020, began today, in a case that caused great commotion and rekindled the debate about police violence in France.

The case, one of the most emblematic of police violence, has generated repercussions to the highest level of government, with President Emmanuel Macron coming to classify the episode as a disgrace.

The audience began in a somewhat chaotic climateSince the criminal court room, too small, did not behave all the people who went to support Michel Zecler.

The episode rekindled the debate on violence and racism in the french police, issues considered systemic by victims and researchers, but treated as isolated acts by the institution itself and the police unions.

Some have drawn a parallel with the George Floyd case in the United States, the African-American who died after a police approach, asphyxiated under the knee of an agent, an episode that boosted the Black Lives Matter movement.

The aggravating circumstance of racism, Michel Zecler reports having been called “dirty black” several times during the beating, was not accepted by the court for lack of evidence.

However, the issue remained present throughout the day in the Paris criminal court, which devoted itself to analyzing the profile of the three police officers.

The 47-year-old producer, wearing a navy blue suit and a white shirt, entered the courtroom after the three defendants, Aurélien Lapersonalne, Pierre Plantier and Philippe Tondeux, who have been removed from the police since this happened, have declared their identities.

Philippe Tondeux, 50, despite his calm tone, it collapsed twice, falling into tears on the first day of the trial.

“ I know I'm not racist, and I'm proud of it. I know who I am. I’m 50”, he said, adding that he was educated based on values such as “tolerance” and “respect”.

Also Aurélien Lapersonalne, the youngest of the accused (29 years), denied the charges: “At heart, I am not racist.”.

They are charged with intentional group violence and forgery of public documents by invested public authority officers, crimes for which up to 15 years can be sentenced. A fourth policeman will be tried in a court of law.

Case

On 21 November 2020, in the midst of the crisis of Covid-19 in France, Michel Zecler was approached by a police patrol in front of his music studio in Paris on the grounds that he was not wearing a mask and suspected cannabis consumption.

Pushed by the police to the inside of the small vestibule at the entrance of the site, the producer was subjected to a violent beating, registered by the studio's security camera.

Disclosed by the Loopsider site six days after the event, the images caused shock and denied the police version.

The report of the occurrence, prepared by the agents, said that the producer had assaulted them and tried to take away their bat.

“If there were no cameras (...) their reports would have been enough to send me to jail, and for a long time”, lamented Michel Zecler, who remains deeply shaken by the aggression and, to this day, questions “the ease” with which he was attacked.