An English supporter in 2016 on the Old Port -
LEON NEAL / AFP
On June 11, 2016, the Velodrome will host the England-Russia match within the framework of the Euro football.
In the afternoon, supporters from both countries clash near the Old Port causing around thirty injuries.
The two Russian hooligans tried this week are accused of inflicting serious consequences on an English supporter.
The meeting ended in a draw, but the pre-game was played in the afternoon on the cobblestones of the Old Port.
During the Euro football on June 11, 2016 before the England-Russia meeting, the city center of Marseille hosted clashes of supporters of rare violence.
At the end of the day, the death toll was 35 injured, two of whom were serious.
Andrew Bache, a 51-year-old English delivery driver, is among them.
Victim of a heavy head trauma, the man explained to investigators in 2018 "not having the slightest memory of the violence suffered, or even of having gone to France".
Still extremely vulnerable, he will not attend the trial of his attackers at the Aix-en-Provence Assize Court which opens on Monday.
Two Russians are tried for violence in assembly and with a weapon resulting in permanent disability.
On the day of the clashes, Andrew Bache found himself in the midst of throwing projectiles.
While the English clan deserted the cours d'Estienne-d'Orves, forced to flee in front of a handful of Russians armed with chairs and umbrellas, Andrew Bache was left alone in the center.
In the words of one of the accused, he had had the misfortune to run "slower than the others".
A rain of blows then fell on him: a stainless steel bar chair, then a violent punch on the back of the head.
The man collapses, "inert, without attempting to cushion his own fall", writes the investigating magistrate in the order of indictment.
Unconscious, he will suffer several more blows.
His vital prognosis is engaged when he is transferred to the hospital.
A European-scale survey
The trial which is to be held from December 7 to 11 in Aix-en-Provence is the third to look at the surge of violence that occurred in Marseille during the Euro.
A few days after the incident, six Englishmen and then three Russians were sentenced to several months in prison.
In view of the seriousness of the blows, the investigation devoted to the assault on Andrew Bache required more time.
On June 14, a bus of Russian supporters was stopped in the Alpes-Maritimes and the 43 passengers were taken into police custody before being released.
At the same time, checks are carried out at airports.
In Marseille, investigators comb through vending machines in the city center, cars rented by Russians, videos of the match at the Vélodrome.
Scotland Yard in support of the French police
French police are teaming up with investigators from Scotland Yard.
And it is a discovery of the English police which allows to get closer to the two alleged attackers.
By exploiting the telephone data of an English hooligan named John, the investigators intercept messages exchanged with a Russian who calls himself "Pasha".
Then going through the posts of several Facebook accounts, the British police managed to identify two suspects: Pavel Kosov and Mikhail Ivkin, both 30 years old and fervent supporters of Spartak in Moscow.
At the end of 2017, two European arrest warrants were issued.
The two men will be arrested on a stopover in Germany before a match is held.
They have since been provisionally detained at Baumettes.
Hooliganism or caricature
Me Julien Pinelli, lawyer for Pavel Kosov, mountain guide in the Caucasus, denounces the "caricatural description" of his client.
“This young man is not a hooligan.
He was caught in a clash and there is no evidence that the chair he threw was the cause of the serious after-effects suffered by the victim.
Like his co-accused, Mikhail Ivkin, sports teacher and father, has a clean criminal record.
He told investigators to have responded to the "provocations" of the English, who had "insulted the Russian flag and threw bottles".
According to him, the situation there was then "terrifying".
The victim's lawyer, Me Olivier Rosato, assures us that “the Russian supporters had come to do battle.
The objective was to attack the figure of hooliganism in Europe embodied by the English.
But they fell on simple supporters, the most violent English being banned from traveling!
»As for his client,« he cannot move because his condition has deteriorated further.
"Besides" amnesia "and difficulty walking, the survey also reports that Andrew Bache had" to relearn the basic actions of daily life (...) such as shopping or cooking.
"
If the videos of the scene attest the responsibility of five individuals in the assault of Andrew Bache, only two suspects could be found by the investigators.
They face fifteen years of criminal imprisonment.
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Soccer
Euro 2016
Hooligans
Justice
Marseilles