The Court of Appeal rendered its decision, this Thursday, for seven police officers from the Nancy night BAC, prosecuted for racial harassment and slurs against other police officers. One of the defendants is released. For four others, the sentences handed down on appeal are greater than those decided at first instance. The most heavily sentenced, a man presented as the leader, receives six months in prison, a sentence that will be adjusted. The leader is banned from practicing permanently while five others are banned from practicing for periods ranging from 1 to 5 years.
“A long and difficult legal battle”
On the side of the civil parties, we are satisfied with the image of the lawyer Frédéric Berna: “it’s beyond what i could imagine […] So far, court rulings could seem below what was handed down today […] At the end of a long and difficult legal battle, my clients can only be satisfied to have been heard and to perhaps serve the future of their colleagues.“.
On the side of the defendants, an appeal of cassation is envisaged as explained by Me Karine Laprévotte, who represents the most heavily condemned in this case: “it is a crushing blow insofar as when it is perfectly justified, the question does not arise. This is a particularly subjective offense […] For them, they are never guilty of harassment vis-à-vis their colleagues“.
In March 2022, during the first trial, the police were sentenced to 6 to 18 months suspended prison sentences
each accompanied by a ban on practicing.
Uninhibited racism according to the IGPN
THE facts denounced
date back to the period 2015-2018. The victims are a woman and three men, who also worked in the anti-crime squad. In 2018, a police officer from the Nancy service denounced to his superiors the actions of several colleagues. In a discussion group on Messenger, he witnessed exchanges of a racist and xenophobic nature.
Its report triggers a IGPN survey. The font police report reveals a “harassment system“organized and “uninhibited racism”. A woman recounts humiliations and describes a sexist environment. The main target of the defendants, a policeman of North African origin, is regularly insulted with “bougnoule” or “bicot”.