Five men are being prosecuted for acts of violence and theft that occurred at the end of March during the demonstration against mega-basins in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), and two of them must appear on Thursday, June 22, announced the prosecution of Niort. The suspects were placed in police custody on Tuesday by the gendarmes of the Poitiers research section in charge of the investigations opened after clashes between demonstrators and the police.
Two of them, already convicted in the past, were referred to the prosecution on Thursday for an immediate appearance. The first, aged 42, is being prosecuted for violence against the gendarmes responsible for protecting the Sainte-Soline mega-basin on March 25 and 26. According to the prosecution, “he is accused of having thrown projectiles and in particular stones”; in recidivism, he incurs fourteen years of prison.
Seven years of imprisonment
The second, aged 27, is suspected of having “been part of the active groups of the demonstration with the aim of degrading the reserve of substitution (…) and of committing violence on the soldiers of the gendarmerie”. Justice also accuses him of having written “ACAB” (for “all cops are bastards”, “all cops are bastards” in French) on one of the trucks that burned and of having “knowingly concealed a gendarmerie jacket stolen from one of the trucks”. He faces seven years in prison.
The other three, aged 25, 26 and 27, will appear in court on July 27. One is suspected of having “participated in a group formed to prepare violence” against persons or property; the other two for “aggravated concealment of theft”.