Marion Dubreuil 6:20 p.m., September 16, 2021, modified at 6:22 p.m., September 16, 2021

Justice accuses Alexandre Benalla of not having returned his two diplomatic passports after his dismissal in July 2018. He traveled with these service documents to Morocco, Turkey, Chad and the Bahamas on numerous occasions between August and December 2018, "for comfort," he explained to court on Thursday.

REPORTING

The tension is palpable this Thursday in the courtroom on the second floor of the Paris Criminal Court.

Alexandre Benalla, on the bench of the defendants, carefully avoids meeting the gaze of his former boss, Francois-Xavier Lauch, sitting opposite him on the side of the civil parties.

And for good reason: the former head of mission at the Elysee is suspected of having relied on a false administrative document to renew his passport, suggesting that this approach was validated by the one who was then chief of staff of President Emmanuel Macron.

>> Find all the newspapers of the editorial staff of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

The president, Isabelle Prevost-Deprez, puts the feet in the dish: "I do not want to sow the issue between you, but ..." The positions of the two men are irreconcilable, like their place in the court and their course.

On the one hand, there is an enarque prefect and on the other a resourceful sans-grade.

Their relations have never been good, explained Alexandre Benalla during the investigation.

He also did not warn Francois-Xavier Lauch, who was nevertheless his superior, that he was going to follow the demonstration on May 1st.

Minimal functions for Benalla?

Francois-Xavier Lauch also asserts that he discovered in retrospect that Alexandre Benalla had had two passports issued for "visa incompatibility".

A completely unjustified act, according to the former chief of staff of the president.

François-Xavier Lauch (Credits Marion Dubreuil for Europe 1)

At the helm, if François-Xavier Lauch is willing to recognize the qualities of Alexandre Benalla, such as "his reactivity" or "his work force", he is particularly concerned with reducing the scope of the alleged functions of the former mission of the Élysée.

And in particular on the absence of travel abroad, Alexandre Benalla was responsible for the private trips of the presidential couple.

That is all.

The "media wall" and passports

"How does this activity require the possession of diplomatic or service passports?", Asks the president to Alexandre Benalla. The defendant explains that he uses it as proof of identity, including in France "to buy a train ticket or to rent a car". "Rent a car to take the President of the Republic?", Chokes the president. Alexandre Benalla seeks to minimize the importance of a diplomatic passport: "It's nothing at all, just a piece of paper with your name, an address, a photo. It doesn't help at all." "We wonder why we go out of our way to get it," quips the president.

Alexandre Benalla recognizes an inappropriate use of passports after the affair that broke out in July: "I take the media wall, it's a bit of a mess in my life. I don't have a home. I live from day to day", he rewinds. But the former adviser of Emmanuel Macron disputes the offense of false document. He risks up to one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros for the use of passports without authorization and three years of imprisonment and a 45,000 euros fine for the offense of forgery in writing.