Believing "not to have enough evidence of guilt" for the violence of the former member of the French judo team on his companion this weekend in Seine-Saint-Denis, the Bobigny criminal court released Alain Schmitt in an immediate appearance hearing that did not end until midnight Tuesday through Wednesday.

At the trial, the public prosecutor had denounced "very serious violence, even for a first-time offender", on the part of Alain Schmitt, and requested against him a one-year suspended sentence.

A few hours after the release, the Bobigny prosecutor's office announced to AFP to appeal.

In a message of support to her colleague in the France team, the female star of French judo Clarisse Agbégnénou said she was "shocked" by the court decision.

"I do not have the words to express everything that is going on in my head and my body as a woman in the face of what my teammate Margaux Pinot has suffered," tweeted the flag bearer of the French delegation at the Olympics from Tokyo.

French judokate Clarisse Agbegnenou, gold medalist (-63kg), comforts her compatriot Margaux Pinot, eliminated in the round of 16 (-70 kg), July 28, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Franck FIFE AFP / Archives

"We are all deeply touched by what our teammate Margaux Pinot has just suffered," added three-time Olympic champion Teddy Riner a few minutes later.

Same story with the French Judo Federation: "we were stunned, we took a knockout by the decision" entrusted its president Stéphane Nomis to AFP in the evening.

Contradictory versions

According to her entourage, the Minister for Sports Roxana Maracineanu wrote to Margaux Pinot on Sunday and is in permanent contact with Stéphane Nomis, who accompanies the judo champion.

Alain Schmitt, 38, was arrested in a state of intoxication during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Blanc-Mesnil.

Margaux Pinot accuses her companion and ex-trainer within the Etoile Sportive du Blanc-Mesnil club of having beaten her, pulled her hair but also of having tried to strangle her during an altercation in the apartment. of the young woman of 27 years.

The French judokate Margaux Pinot, after her defeat in the round of 16 (-70 kg) against the Greek Elisavet Teltsidou, July 28, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Franck FIFE AFP / Archives

Her calls for help alerted some neighbors, where she found refuge before the police arrived around 2:30 am.

Suffering from bruises and a broken nose, she was prescribed ten days of ITT.

On Wednesday afternoon, the gold medalist in Tokyo with the France team, in the new mixed team event, spoke for the first time on social networks since the start of the case to express her indignation .

"What is their slanderous defense worth against my injuries, and the blood strewn on the floor of my apartment? What was missing? Death at the end, perhaps?", She protested, posting a photo of his swollen face, which seems taken soon after the fact.

French judokate Margaux Pinot, congratulated by her teammates, after winning the decisive point against Israel, in the mixed team quarterfinal, July 31, 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Franck FIFE AFP / Archives

"It was probably judo that saved me," she added.

Tuesday's hearing in Bobigny had been marked by contradictory versions.

- departure for Israel? -

Also presenting a bruised face, Alain Schmitt denied "100%" the facts with which he was accused.

At the bar, he denied having dealt the slightest blow to his companion, instead describing a fight between lovers as a "tornado", based on judo holds and triggered by Margaux Pinot.

"It was not a judo fight, it was punches," protested the judo at the bar.

Contacted by AFP, Alain Schmitt's lawyer, Caroline Wassermann, said that her client welcomes the call from the prosecution with "serenity".

"This does not mean that the decision of the court (of appeal) will not be similar to the decision of the first instance," she warned.

The individual record of Margaux Pinot, who fought in two categories (-63 and -70 kg), notably includes a world bronze medal in 2019, two titles of European champion (2019 and 2020) and two silver medals. continental (2017, 2021).

Bronze medalist at the 2013 Worlds (-81 kg), Alain Schmitt told the court to consider his departure for Israel as a "real change of life" after six years as a coach at Blanc-Mesnil where he also coached Madeleine Malonga.

The French, gold medalist Loïc Pietri (l) and bronze medalist Alain Schmitt, during the IJF world judo championship, in Rio de Janeiro, August 29, 2013 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP / Archives

He was supposed to take the reins of the Israeli women's national team, but the Israel Judo Federation said it had suspended all contact with him after the court ruling.

meh-fan-amd-rbo / bpa

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