In the investigation of diplomatic passports, Alexandre Benalla, former official at the Elysee, was sent back to correctional for "forgery", "use of forgery" and "public use and without the right of documents justifying a professional quality ".  

This is the first referral to trial of the former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron, whose name emerged with the scandal of the violence committed during a demonstration on May 1, 2018 in Paris.

In addition to the passport case, he is the target of five other judicial inquiries. 

>> To see on France24.com: WEBDOC - Benalla affair: chronology of a scandal that plagues the Élysée

"Forgery and use of forgery" 

In an order dated January 25, the investigating judges responsible for this component therefore referred Alexandre Benalla, 30, to the criminal court for "public use and without the right to documents proving professional quality", for the use of two diplomatic passports, and for "forgery and use of forgery", concerning his service passport. 

The investigation aimed to clarify the conditions under which the former official in charge of the Élysée Palace used diplomatic passports to travel to Africa and Israel, where he was beginning his conversion as an international security consultant, after his appointment. examination in July 2018 for violence during May 1 and his dismissal. 

He also held a service passport obtained, according to the prosecution, by fraudulently producing a letter on the letterhead of the Elysée chief of staff, François-Xavier Lauch, but "typed" and not signed. 

Disputed facts  

François-Xavier Lauch, now deputy chief of staff to the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, was summoned as a civil party after filing a complaint against Alexandre Benalla, of whom he was at the time the superior. 

"Alexandre Benalla who had initially been left under the status of assisted witness in this case has always contested the facts and their criminal qualification", declared his lawyer, Me Jacqueline Laffont.  

"In addition, it was demonstrated during the investigation that the administrative practice of 'the signed original' did exist, and was used in particular in certain departments of the Elysee," she added. 

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

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

With AFP

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