A third defendant was acquitted by the criminal court of Amiens "with the benefit of the doubt".

All swear that they did not know the victim: Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, manager of the famous chocolate factory of the same name, attacked on May 15 in front of his shop, which will earn him four days of total incapacity for work (ITT).

At the bar, a neighbor sums up the scene: "I saw an individual being massacred."

It all begins, according to the president's account, with a "group of people", who place "garbage containers" in front of the store, in the city center of Amiens.

"Fearing that his window will shatter", Jean-Baptiste Trogneux then "tries" to "repel people". But he is "taken to task" in particular "by an individual who punches him several times".

Among the defendants, only one, Florian Careel, recognizes "a slap" to Mr. Trogneux. But because he had "pushed a friend", defends the young man from the box, between two shrugs of shoulders in his large gray sweatshirt.

"Why are you dealing this blow?" the president insists. "He wanted to move the garbage cans that were in front of his store," he replies, laconically. "It's kind of normal, isn't it?" Be quiet.

This 20-year-old man was sentenced to 24 months, 12 months of which were suspended, with continued detention.

"I didn't think"

The president continues with the second suspect: Yoan Leroy, 34, a man under reinforced curatorship, who defends himself from any violence against the victim, despite the testimonies.

He explains: "I put two wheeled bins in front of the door of Trogneux, I did not think, I accompanied the friends."

And "you said +fortunately I missed him otherwise he would have died +", reminds him the president. "Way of speaking". "Do you consider yourself violent?" the president asked. "When I can, yes," he said without batting an eyelid.

He received the heaviest sentence: 30 months' imprisonment, 15 months of which were suspended and continued detention.

The third defendant, 22, presents himself as a freelance journalist on Tik Tok. He wore a "press" armband on the night of the incident. Already convicted of violence, he can neither read nor write, and bursts into tears in his explanations. "I didn't touch him," he repeats. He is relaxed.

"Cowards"

Pointing to a "gratuitous, violent and serious" assault, the prosecutor had requested prison sentences for each of the three defendants, and up to three and a half years in prison against Yoan Leroy, who appears to be the main protagonist of the case.

"What I fear is that we will find ourselves in a few years before an assize court because we could not prevent them from causing more serious facts," said prosecutor Jean-Philippe Vicentini in his closing argument.

"The motive is odious in this case, the atmosphere was vindictive vis-à-vis the president of the Republic, we saw a way to pass his nerves on the establishment and Jean-Baptiste Trogneux," he said.

Faced with defendants with difficult life paths, he sweeps: "One is responsible for one's destiny."

Four other people arrested in this case were released after being taken into custody. A 16-year-old girl, also prosecuted, is due to be tried later by a juvenile judge.

As soon as the facts were revealed, voices on the left and right were alarmed by the violence of the political debate, Emmanuel Macron denouncing "unbearable and unspeakable acts". Brigitte Macron indignant at the "cowardice" of the authors.

© 2023 AFP