Latest news with #MichelZecler
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
French Police Officers Who Beat a Black Man on Camera to Stand Trial
Four police officers in France were ordered to stand trial on Friday on charges that they assaulted a Black man in November 2020. The beating, which was caught on a security camera, fueled intense debates about police brutality in the country. But the investigative judges who sent the case to trial dropped charges that two of the officers had acted with a racist motive. The judges said there was not enough evidence to support the accusation of the man, Michel Zecler, a music producer well known in the world of French rap, that the officers had hurled a racial slur at him during the episode. The removal of the racism charge does not change the maximum sentence that the two officers face, nor will it prohibit Mr. Zecler from speaking freely about his experience at trial. But his legal team expressed disappointment. 'We regret that the aggravating circumstance was not taken into account,' Agence-France Presse quoted Caroline Toby, one of Mr. Zecler's lawyers, as saying on Friday, referring to the racism charge. She added that evidence and testimonies had confirmed Mr. Zecler's account. Three of the officers are accused of assaulting Mr. Zecler at his Paris music studio and filing a misleading police report, according to the city's prosecutor's office. Their report said that Mr. Zecler had violently resisted arrest after an ID check; the video showed that the officers had beat him. Charged mainly with forgery and aggravated assault, they face 15-year prison sentences and fines of €225,000, about $264,000. They have been identified only as Aurélien L., Philippe T. and Pierre P., in accordance with French custom. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Local France
a day ago
- Politics
- Local France
Four French policemen to stand trial for beating black musician
On the evening of November 21, 2020, Michel Zecler was beaten up in his Parisian music studio after police confronted him for a supposed "strong smell of cannabis" and for not wearing a mask, as required at the time because of Covid. The four-minute ordeal ruptured his left biceps tendon. The policemen's accusations of "violence" and "rebellion" against Zecler were quickly dismissed, and video footage released five days later contradicted the initial police account. The policemen will stand trial for illegal use of force, a source close to the case said Friday, though they will not face aggravated hate-crime charges, even though Zecler said at least one of the policemen made racist comments. Prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to classify the attack as a hate crime. "We regret that the aggravating circumstance of racism was not retained, despite the evidence gathered and testimony that confirmed it," said Caroline Toby, Zecler's lawyer. Advertisement "Nevertheless, the court decided that the accused should answer for their actions before a criminal court, and took into account the seriousness of their actions," she added. At the time, President Emmanuel Macron said the police's actions were "unacceptable" and "shameful". The policemen later admitted the use of excess force and two of them have already spent a month in jail. This trial "is consistent with the reality of this case, namely that at no time has it been established that racist remarks were made by the police officers", said Jean-Christophe Ramadier, the lawyer of one of the officers.
