On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the Bobigny correctional court released the 38-year-old judoka after a hearing for immediate appearance, considering "not having enough evidence of guilt".

The prosecution, which had required a one-year suspended sentence, appealed.

This judgment aroused indignation in the world of judo and on social networks, where justice has been accused of laxity towards domestic violence.

The controversy flared up on Wednesday with the publication on the internet, by Margaux Pinot herself, of a photo of her swollen face shortly after the facts.

The stars of French judo Teddy Riner and Clarisse Agbégnénou have publicly expressed their support for him.

"There was an appeal (from the prosecution), it's justice. They have the right to do it and they did it. Now, what I do not respect, however, is the media lynching which was made around that. Instagram, Twitter, it's anything but a court, "replied Alain Schmitt, a huge bruise on the upper right part of the face, at a press conference Thursday.

Margaux Pinot, 27, accuses her companion and ex-trainer at the Etoile Sportive du Blanc-Mesnil club of having beaten him, hit his head against the ground but also of having tried to strangle him during 'an altercation on the night of Saturday to last Sunday at his home in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis).

The police arrested Alain Schmitt shortly after, following a call to 17 from a neighbor with whom Margaux Pinot had found refuge.

"His cries, his cries"

Alongside his lawyers, at times moved, Alain Schmitt again denied the version of his now "ex-companion" and categorically denied having hit her.

As in court, the judoka without a criminal record presented to the press a version opposite to that of the gold medalist of the Tokyo Olympics.

According to him, Margaux Pinot had been bitter since the announcement of her departure for Israel.

Alain Schmitt was to train the national women's team there, an offer he says he accepted to flee a relationship he presented as unstable and up and down.

A few hours before his flight scheduled for early Sunday morning, according to the story he delivers, Margaux Pinot would have sparked an argument by accusing him of "abandoning".

The tone would have risen, insults and provocations would have flared on both sides.

French judokate Clarisse Agbegnenou (l), gold medalist in the -63kg category at the Tokyo Olympic Games, comforts her compatriot Margaux Pinot, unhappy in the -70kg category in Tokyo, July 28, 2021 Franck FIFE AFP / Archives

Then Margaux Pinot would have thrown themselves on him and they would then have fought as in a judo fight, rolling in the middle of the apartment.

"She hit me hard in the door, then we went from right to left, in the wall, in the radiator ... We really hit everywhere", described Alain Schmitt.

According to him, their couple had already known other violent altercations in the past.

"She calmed down after two-three minutes, even though she broke everything, she was going all over the place," he said, saying "getting a few knocks in general."

“What's always creepy is her screaming, her screaming. It was a strain. Every time I left she would say that I was giving up on her. It's not about giving up people, I was leaving. cannot be in the permanent dispute, "he said.

The individual record of Margaux Pinot, who fought in two categories (-63 and -70 kg), notably includes a world bronze medal in 2019, two titles of European champion (2019 and 2020) and two silver medals continental (2017, 2021).

After the decision of the Bobigny court, the Israeli Judo Federation announced Wednesday that it had suspended all contact with Alain Schmitt, bronze medalist at the 2013 Worlds (-81 kg).

Margaux Pinot will hold a press conference at the end of the day, her advice told AFP.

© 2021 AFP