France: the author of the slap on Emmanuel Macron sentenced to 18 months in prison, including 14 suspended
In Valence on June 10, 2021. Journalists wait in front of the Valence court where Damien Tarel, a 28-year-old man, who slapped the French president on June 8, was tried.
AFP - JEFF PACHOUD
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Sentencing to 18 months in prison including 4 months firm for Damien Tarel, the 28-year-old man who slapped President Macron on Tuesday, June 8, during a trip to Drôme, in the southwest of France.
He was tried this Thursday, June 10 before the Criminal Court of Valence in immediate appearance for "violence without incapacity on any person holding public authority".
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The prosecution required a very heavy sentence: 18 months in prison.
The court has revised it downwards by attaching these 18 months to 14 months of suspension.
On the other hand, he validated the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution: Damien Tarel was therefore immediately imprisoned.
Earlier in court, the man had recognized his gesture, but assured to have acted "
instinctively
", according to the press on the spot. He said "he never intended" to slap Emmanuel Macron while admitting to having considered in the previous hours to throw him eggs or a cream pie in order, in his words, to "do something remarkable "To" challenge the president on political issues. "
The thirty-something, who claimed to be part of the “
movement of yellow vests
” and spoke of his frustration at what he describes as “
injustice
”, also clarified that his cry “
Monjoie Saint-Denis
” launched during the aggression was for him a "
patriotic slogan
", in "
reference to the rallying cry of the knights
".
For his part, the prosecutor had denounced a "
deliberate act of violence
" "
completely inadmissible
" and with a political aim.
A gesture, according to him, which "
was not only a desire to strike
", but also "
to humiliate
".
Damien Tarel was also sentenced to three years of deprivation of civil rights and five years of ban on possession of a weapon.
He will sleep in prison tonight, so the sentence is rather severe.
In 2017, a young man who had slapped Manuel Valls in similar circumstances, who had come to leave his post as prime minister to seek the nomination of the Socialist Party for the presidential election had been sentenced to 3 months suspended and 105 hours of work of interest general.
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Emmanuel Macron