Alexandre Benalla, former adviser to Emmanuel Macron.

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Christophe Ena / AP / SIPA

The passport case revived.

The Paris public prosecutor's office has requested a criminal trial for “forgery”, “false use” and “undue use” of professional documents against Alexandre Benalla, ex-official at the Elysee Palace, in the investigation of his diplomatic passports , announced Friday the prosecutor.

In a final indictment dated Thursday and unveiled in a press release Friday, the prosecution requests a trial for Alexandre Benalla, accusing him of the illegal use of two diplomatic passports and of having produced a forgery to obtain a service passport.

It is now up to the investigating judge in charge of the case to send or not Alexandre Benalla to the criminal court.

The former project manager was indicted for the first time in this case in January 2019 for "public use and without right of a supporting document of professional quality".

On February 11, the examining magistrate decided to also indict him for “forgery and use of false administrative documents”.

The investigation aimed to clarify the conditions under which the former official in charge of the Elysee Palace continued to use diplomatic passports after his indictment in July 2018 for violence during May 1 and his dismissal.

Three relatives of Emmanuel Macron heard

Three close collaborators of Emmanuel Macron, including the secretary general of the Elysee Palace Alexis Kohler and his then chief of staff, François-Xavier Lauch, were heard in April 2019 by the judges responsible for this investigation.

Lauch, now deputy chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, was then summoned as a civil party after having filed a complaint against Alexandre Benalla, of whom he was at the time the superior, for a "use of forgery" to obtain a service passport.

After initially affirming before the Senate that he had left them in his office at the Elysee Palace, Mr. Benalla admitted having recovered and used these passports, then returned them.

According to Mediapart and Le Monde, Mr. Benalla used one of his two diplomatic passports to enter several African countries.

Several legal proceedings have been opened in the sprawling Benalla case, mainly at the Paris prosecutor's office but also at the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF).

In addition to the passport file, Alexandre Benalla is also indicted for the violence committed on the sidelines of the May 1, 2018 parade, the starting point of the case, and for the selfie taken with a weapon during the 2017 presidential campaign.

Justice

Alexandre Benalla again indicted for his diplomatic passports

Society

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