Yellow vests parade in Rouen, January 11, 2020. -
Robin Letellier / SIPA
A former mobile gendarme was sentenced Monday by the Rouen (Seine-Maritime) court to four months suspended prison sentence after overturning three "yellow vests" during a stormy demonstration on February 16, 2019. The man, who was not on duty that day also has his driver's license suspended for six months.
And he must pay 6,160 euros in all provision for damages to the victims.
"The defendant committed a fault by leaving clearly very quickly and by mowing several people (...) The facts are serious", had estimated during the hearing on December 8 Matthieu Milon, deputy prosecutor of the Republic of Rouen.
But according to him, "the defendant did not want" to hurt the demonstrators.
“There were virulent people around him.
It was an extremely stressful situation for everyone ”, also underlined the deputy prosecutor.
Between 15 days and six months of ITT for victims
The three victims aged 23 to 47, a nuclear power plant technician and two temporary workers, had received 15 days, five weeks and six months of ITT respectively.
Video screened at the hearing showed the car pulling away to the left and hitting protesters.
The ex-gendarme then admitted to having "frankly accelerated (...) to protect my wife and my baby", after having received projectiles on his vehicle.
“I was in a state of panic,” he added.
The man, who was not a mobile field gendarme but worked in the offices, also apologized to the injured.
He was not present at the judgment statement on Monday.
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