Bobigny (AFP)

"Accusing an insubordinate rebellion is a form of pleonasm," threw Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Thursday, tried with five of his relatives in Bobigny for rebellion and intimidation, during the eventful search. at LFI headquarters in October.

The trial, scheduled for two days, opened in an electric climate, fueled by the repeated attacks of the leader Insoumis against justice. To the judge who asked him if he agreed to appear, Mr. Mélenchon replied: "I do not think I have a choice, but yes".

Jean-Luc Mélenchon is prosecuted for "acts of intimidation against a magistrate and a depositary of public authority, rebellion and provocation". He incurs up to 10 years in prison, a fine of 150,000 euros and 5 years of ineligibility. Also present are MPs Bastien Lachaud and Alexis Corbière, MEP Manuel Bompard, President of the "People's Era" Association Bernard Pignerol and the press officer of LFI.

The LFI leader was the first to be interviewed. The day of the search, on October 16, 2018, "the day began in an atmosphere of confusion, of amazement", with the search of several insubordinate militants, justified Mr. Mélenchon, when the president of the court Benoît Descoubes has stressed that the materiality of what he is accused of was established.

The MP said he felt "a sense of humiliation": "these are my premises, I have never claimed to be above the law".

Jean-Luc Mélenchon recalled being afraid that the file of the 500,000 registered on the platform LFI is seized. He then invoked "the moral responsibility vis-à-vis those who gave their name and address to support (his) presidential campaign".

And he told himself again the victim of a "political trial": "I do not speak of conspiracy, but of system effect".

In a face to face sometimes tense, sometimes comic, the leader LFI was then under the fire of the questions of Me Eric Dupond-Moretti, one of the lawyers of the civil parts. "It is a classic technique, to cut small piece by little piece the questions.Go straight to the goal, be offensive! " he advised Mr. Mélenchon, triggering laughter in the room.

Visibly annoyed by the length of the insubordant leader's responses, who repeatedly explained that his reaction to the search was primarily that of a militant claiming his insubordination, Mr. Jones-Moretti joked: "Here we are in a compound judicial, not in court, with placards! "

A reference to the dozens of insubordinate militants who had posted themselves in the morning in court to support the six defendants.

- "My decibel level" -

To one of the police officers who took the civil action, Mr. Mélenchon says "deeply regret to have disturbed you by my level of decibels, to the point of provoking seven days of ITT".

The morning audience was devoted to viewing images shot by the press during the search of October 16 which had turned to confrontation.

Some sequences caused laughter in the crowded courtroom. Some tense exchanges between parties took place as images passed by without sound. "The political trial of the rebellious organized by Belloubet turns to the dumb joke," quipped the boss of the rebellious, on Twitter during the hearing.

Many elected LFI have made the trip, including MPs Adrien Quatennens, François Ruffin and Danièle Obono.

The search at the heart of the trial was conducted at the Paris headquarters of LFI in the context of two investigations of the Paris prosecutor's office: the accounts of the 2017 presidential campaign and the conditions of employment of assistants of MEPs of LFI, entrusted since then to examining magistrates.

Filming live on Facebook the search of his home, Mr. Mélenchon had first denounced a "huge political police operation" before visiting with relatives at the headquarters of the movement. In front of cameras, he had called his family to "break the door" to enter the premises. He was also seen shaking up a representative of the prosecution, as well as a police officer trying to intervene.

Police and magistrates are among the civil parties.

© 2019 AFP