A supporter in front of the Commanderie in Marseille -
NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
About fifteen alleged participants in the sacking of the Commandery were to appear this Monday before the Marseille Criminal Court.
The defendants are all young, supporters and from modest backgrounds.
Eight of them have been remanded in custody pending trial scheduled for February 24.
From our special correspondent at the Marseille Criminal Court
You have to imagine a slew of young men, so numerous that they do not all fit in the box not so small of the defendants.
Almost all of the same haircut, the same fairly relaxed dress style, the same way of expressing themselves, with a little Marseille accent.
A kind of juvenile mass which watches, stunned, the president of the court of Marseille, after having spent 48 hours in police custody.
The youngest has just blown out his twenty-first candle.
A kid from the eighth arrondissement of Marseille, a first year student of BTS Immobilier in work-study program, with a bad nose.
His mother, very surprised, told investigators that “the last few times have been hard for Romain, who has had little contact.
“On the bench a little further, Thierry comes to court with crutches, due to an ankle injury.
His relatives confide that “going to the stadium makes him happy.
This is the only place where he feels good.
"
Sentenced as a supporter
This Monday, fourteen people were to be tried in immediate appearance before the Marseille Criminal Court for having violently ransacked the Olympique de Marseille training center on Saturday, causing the postponement of OM-Rennes.
A wine merchant, several entrepreneurs who are looking to start as a delivery man, an electrician… All seem to come from this average, modest France, which works and lives on.
Asked about his professional situation, one of the defendants, a young employee in a painting company that belongs to his cousin, stammers, before we understand that he is moonlighting.
The majority of criminal records are clean.
However, some are not at their first attempt, with previous convictions for petty offenses as a supporter, like this storekeeper, banned from the stadium for three years in 2017 for having used a smoke at the Velodrome.
Another was sentenced for invading the pitch after a match in Bordeaux.
“It was to ask for a jersey from one of the players,” he explains to the president.
"I received a message from the group"
None claims to know their neighbor.
“Are you in a supporters club?
», Asks the president to the young Leo.
“I am a supporter, yes,” he evades.
A supporter of the Ultras, as added by his lawyer who shouts: “You have to tell the truth…” An Ultras tracksuit on his back, Julien, a 28-year-old baker from Aix, claims to have come “to sing, to say [his] discontent ”without committing any violence.
" I have nothing to reproach myself.
Since Wednesday, I knew there was a rally.
"
Defendants who come from all over France, from Marseille to Angoulême via Montceau-les-Mines and Haute-Marne, and found themselves in this crowd of 300 supporters on Saturday, all thanks to social networks.
“I received a message from the group”, indicates Mathieu, author of a snap with the caption: “Big action at the commandery.
"
An "attack in order"
"What was unimaginable on Friday became visible on Saturday: supporters who came to attack the center of their idols", laments the public prosecutor André Ribbes, who denounces an "attack in order, from the start, hyperviolent.
A process which justifies, according to him, the warrant of deposit against the whole group to avoid any recurrence, while a home match is being held this Sunday against PSG.
However, the prosecutor admits not having the organizers of such a demonstration in front of him.
"I am looking for other authors".
“We want to keep them in detention, because next Saturday there is a match, indignant Me Nicolas Besset, lawyer for several defendants.
Is that a sufficient reason, knowing that we had about 300 demonstrators?
There are some 286 running in the wild.
"
Meanwhile, Julien, the Aix baker, collapses, despondent at the idea of spending the next few days in prison.
Tears flow to his mask, silently, eyes fixed on the opposite wall.
The young man will be one of eight defendants in pre-trial detention at least until the trial, sent back to February 24.
Either the date envisaged for the match which will finally oppose Marseille to Rennes.
Justice
Marseille: Eight of the fourteen defendants from the Commandery placed in pre-trial detention
Justice
Marseille: OM supporters in immediate appearance after the incidents at the Commanderie
Justice
Soccer
Support
Marseilles
OM