Two men tried in Amiens for the attack on Brigitte Macron’s grand-nephew after a demonstration against pension reform were sentenced to 12 and 15 months in prison, after a trial highlighting their great precariousness .
A third defendant was released by the Amiens criminal court “for the benefit of the doubt”.
All swear that they did not know the victim: Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, manager of the famous chocolate factory of the same name, attacked on May 15 in front of his shop, which earned him four days of total incapacity for work (ITT).
At the bar, a neighbor summarizes the scene: “I saw an individual being massacred.”
It all starts, according to the president’s account, with a “group of people”, who place “garbage containers” in front of the store, in the city center of Amiens.
“Fearing that his window will be shattered”, Jean-Baptiste Trogneux “tries” then “to repel people”. But he is “taken to task” in particular “by an individual who punches him several times”.
Among the defendants, only one, Florian Careel, recognizes “a slap” to Mr. Trogneux. But because he had “pushed a friend”, defends the young man from the box, between two shrugs in his large gray sweatshirt.
“Why are you taking this blow?”, insists the president. “He wanted to move the trash cans that were in front of his store,” he replies laconically. “It’s a bit normal, isn’t it?”. Silence.
This 20-year-old man is sentenced to 24 months, including 12 months suspended, with continued detention.
The president continues with the second suspect: Yoan Leroy, 34, a man under reinforced curatorship, who defends himself from any violence against the victim, despite the testimonies.
He explains: “I put two wheelie bins in front of the Trogneux door, I didn’t think, I accompanied the friends.”
“But you are implicated for having struck several punches”, continues the president. “I tried, but I did not succeed”, answers this man already convicted of domestic violence and death threat. He finally admits having “touched” him with his “thorax”.
And “you said fortunately that I missed it otherwise he would be dead”, reminds him of the president. “Way of talking”. “Do you consider yourself to be violent?”, questions the president again. “When I can yes,” he said without flinching.
He received the heaviest sentence: 30 months’ imprisonment, including 15 months suspended and continued detention.
The third defendant, 22, presents himself as an independent journalist on Tik Tok. He wore a “press” armband on the evening of the incident. Already condemned for violence, he can neither read nor write, and bursts into tears in his explanations. “I didn’t touch him,” he repeats. He is relaxed.
Pointing to a “gratuitous, violent and serious” assault, the prosecutor had requested prison sentences for each of the three defendants, and up to three and a half years in prison against Yoan Leroy, who appears to be the main protagonist of the case.
“What I fear is that we will find ourselves in a few years before an assize court because we will not have been able to prevent them from causing more serious acts”, said prosecutor Jean-Philippe Vicentini in his indictment.
“The motive is odious in this file, the atmosphere was vindictive vis-à-vis the President of the Republic, we saw a way to get over his nerves on the establishment and Jean-Baptiste Trogneux”, he said. still estimated.
Faced with defendants with difficult life courses, he sweeps: “We are responsible for our destiny.”
Four other people arrested in this case were released after their custody. A 16-year-old girl, also prosecuted, is to be tried later by a juvenile judge.
As soon as the facts were revealed, voices on the left and on the right were alarmed at the violence of the political debate, Emmanuel Macron denouncing “unbearable and unspeakable acts”. Brigitte Macron indignant at the “cowardice” of the authors.
05/06/2023 19:48:51 – Amiens (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
