Michel Zecler assault trial of three Paris police officers, Digi Mart USA News (Paris, France): Three police officers are being tried before the Paris criminal court over the November 2020 beating of record producer Michel Zecler, whose filmed assault shocked the public and renewed the recurring debate over police violence in France.
Aurélien B., Pierre P. and Philippe T., now aged 29, 37 and 50, are charged with intentional violence committed by several people together and forgery of a public document by a person holding public authority.
Each faces up to fifteen years in prison. A fourth officer is to be tried in a lower court.
The trial before the Paris criminal court is expected to last two weeks. Michel Zecler, who is 47, said he approaches it with a mix of apprehension and anger, and hopes his attackers will be judged in proportion to their actions.
The incident took place on November 21, 2020, during France’s second national lockdown during the Covid-19 health crisis. Police on patrol stopped Zecler outside his Paris music studio for not wearing a mask and on suspicion of cannabis use.
Pushed by officers into the narrow entrance vestibule of the studio, he was beaten violently, an attack recorded by the studio’s surveillance camera. Between 7:42 p.m.
and 7:47 p.m., he was struck about thirty times on the face and body with fists and batons.
Medical expertise recorded a craniofacial trauma, wounds to the lip and scalp, and a complete rupture of a biceps tendon, resulting in 45 days of total work incapacity.
The footage, first revealed by the website Loopsider six days after the incident, contradicted the officers’ initial account, which stated that Zecler had struck them and tried to seize a baton. President Emmanuel Macron described the images as a source of shame.
Two of the officers were detained for one month, and all were suspended. During the investigation they acknowledged that their written report did not reflect the facts, but said they feared for their lives and denied any racist motive.
Zecler says he was called a racial slur during the attack. Judges did not question his sincerity but found insufficient evidence to establish racism as a charge.
Zecler said he was insulted and will repeat that statement at the hearing.
The attack profoundly affected his life physically, emotionally and financially, he said, and he continues to receive psychological support. The lawyers for the officers declined to comment to AFP.
