Benalla trial: the former project manager questioned on the Poitiers affair

Alexandre Benalla, this Monday, September 13, 2021 in Paris for soon trial.

AFP - THOMAS COEX

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The former official of the French presidency Alexandre Benalla had an appointment with justice, this Monday, September 13.

His trial, the result of the violence that occurred on May 1, 2018 and in which this former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron is involved, opened at midday.

The Paris Criminal Court immediately got into the heart of the matter, leading it to express itself on a memory of the 2017 campaign.

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With our special correspondent,

Laura Martel

Alexandre Benalla was questioned this Monday on a photo that had caused a lot of talk. A photo in which he poses with a gun in a restaurant in Poitiers, in April 2017, during the presidential campaign of Emmanuel Macron. He was then in charge of the candidate's security, and was only allowed to carry a weapon in the premises of the En Marche party. For these facts, he risks the most important sentence: seven years in prison.

In the photo, in the foreground, a smiling young woman taking the "selfie", with three men around her, three bodyguards of Mr. Macron. The one on the left, Alexandre Benalla, points a gun at the waitress' neck - a fake pistol, assures the former Elysee employee at the helm. A dummy weapon, a toy, he repeats, before conceding that it was not very professional, and even silly. But the atmosphere was relaxed in the restaurant: it was the end of the campaign, after a meeting, he explains.

This weapon, to whom did it belong? Asks the president. " 

I do not know any more

 ", answers Alexandre Benalla, dark suit, the fists clenched in the back. Why did you tell this woman not to look at the picture until later? Here again, the young man's memory falters. All he can say is that he could never have carried a real weapon, because he was permanently next to Emmanuel Macron, like the police in charge of his security. They would have seen him, if he had been armed, "

 they wouldn't have let me

 ."

Alexandre Benalla tries to make amends, but he ends up letting go: " 

The strength of the image is more important than the reality of things

 ", " 

it's like the images of May 1st

 ".

Facts on which he will have to explain himself next week.

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  • Justice

  • Emmanuel Macron