Violence during May 1st, carrying a weapon… Benalla defends himself on the first day of his trial

Marion Dubreuil, with Europe 1 and AFP 9:35 p.m., September 13, 2021

"An idiotic sketches" with "a fake weapon": Alexandre Benalla defended on Monday having illegally carried a weapon in 2017, on the first day of his trial in Paris where he first appeared for the violence of May 1, 2018 , fraudulent use of diplomatic passports and carrying a weapon. The former Elysee mission manager is on trial until October 1 for several offenses, foremost among which are the violent gestures filmed on the sidelines of Labor Day three years ago, which sparked a resounding scandal including aftershocks lasted for months.

Surgical mask and round glasses, dark suit and hands joined, the former close collaborator of Emmanuel Macron, just 30 years old, answers calmly and for nearly three hours to questions about his career, then - first offense examined by the court - in a 2017 photo of him carrying a gun, facing a sometimes skeptical president.

A problematic photo in April 2017

After the order service of the Socialist Party, Alexandre Benalla was hired, in August 2016, by the association En Marche as "director of safety and security": his job, "to solve the problems", sums up he at the helm, his arched square shoulders in a dark suit. Seduced by "the human adventure", he will count under his orders "four employees" of En Marche and "about 450 volunteers throughout France". It was at this time that he was suspected of having committed a first offense.

In question, a photo taken in April 2017 and revealed more than a year later by Mediapart: on the screen of the courtroom, a woman smiles broadly, surrounded by two members of the candidate's security service. the presidential Emmanuel Macron and Alexandre Benalla.

In the latter's hand, what appears to be a Glock pistol.

However, before October 13, 2017, he was not authorized to carry a weapon outside his home or the premises of En Marche, underlines the president of the court Isabelle Prévost-Desprez.

"Inconsistencies"

“This photo, when it came out, the first thing I thought was that it was a montage,” says Alexandre Benalla. "Then I remembered a little about that festive evening, we had this little playlet, it was a completely artificial weapon", he continues. During the investigation, he had mentioned a "water gun".

The president is surprised at some "inconsistencies", does not try to weigh her words: "Excuse me for the term but a joker who plays with a water pistol" and who is responsible for the security of a presidential candidate , "there is like a lag".

"This photo, it is not good", agrees Alexandre Benalla.

"The gesture is silly, what is certain is that it is a dummy weapon", he insists.

He never "took out the party's weapons from the campaign headquarters", nor from his home those he owned, he swears.

Violence committed on May 1, 2018

Alexandre Benalla was identified in July 2018 by the newspaper

on a video where he appeared with a helmet of the police, brutalizing a woman and a man at the Place de la Contrescarpe in Paris, at the end of a day of manifestation enamelled with clashes. So at the heart of President Macron's security system, he was supposed to have only an observer role that day. Sanctioned by a 15-day suspension, he had kept an office at the Elysee Palace, the daily revealed.

The next day, the opposition denounced a "state affair" and a judicial inquiry was opened. The former project manager returned to the "shock" of his July 2018 police custody for the violence of May 1: "I was surprised, I had the impression of having done something positive for society, I had just called offenders, "he said on Monday. The affair plagued the executive for months, over revelations in the press and hearings of parliamentary commissions of inquiry.

Since then targeted by six judicial inquiries, including one closed, Alexandre Benalla was referred to justice in particular for violence in meetings and for having usurped the function of police officer. With his co-defendant and friend Vincent Crase, a 48-year-old former gendarme, they must in particular explain their actions, filmed, on Labor Day 2018 against the couple from La Contrescarpe, but also on suspicions of violence in the Garden. plants, two hours earlier, concerning three demonstrators. This component will be examined from September 22.