Marion Dubreuil 6:30 p.m., September 24, 2021, modified at 7:27 p.m., September 24, 2021

Since the start of his trial, Alexandre Benalla explains that he has acted in accordance with the code of criminal procedure on May 1, 2018. On Friday, he was confronted with two young people whom they apprehended, since nicknamed "the couple de la Contrescarpe ".

"I only did my duty as a citizen": this is how Alexandre Benalla defended himself several times at his trial, prosecuted for violence and untitled interference in the exercise of a public mission for the 'Contrescarpe affair, May 1, 2018. Friday, for the first time, the former employee of the Élysée was confronted with the young couple he apprehended nearly three and a half years ago, on the sidelines of demonstrations that were taking place that day.

And in front of him, Georgios Delikaris, one of these two young adults, maintained his accusations.

"It took my breath away"

The former Elysee mission manager hit this young man in the face and chest on the square in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.

"It took my breath away," he says.

"I started to throw up and got scared."

But it is especially with the images that Alexandre Benalla was confronted this Friday.

Four videos with different angles to dissect each of his gestures on Georgios Delikaris.

First freeze frame: "What is that, as a technique?" Asks the judge.

"I grab it by the left elbow", explains Alexandre Benalla, "and I hold it at the level of the chin".

"If we do not know, we can believe in a strangulation," said the magistrate.

"It's just a control key", assures the defendant, "because the gentleman was very nervous and drunk".

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"If I had wanted to strike, there would have been traces"

Only one meter away, on the civil party bench, Georgios Delikaris nods his head, while his partner sighs.

New freeze frame: "And there, what are you doing?" Asks the judge.

"I am unbalanced, I try to step over it so as not to hurt him but it is not very successful. I can mimic", suggests Alexandre Benalla.

He adds: "I am 110 kilos. If I had wanted to strike, there would have been traces, more than a few scratches noticed four months later."

The trial continues until October 1.