Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP 19:05 p.m., May 04, 2023

Tony Vairelles was sentenced to three years in prison during his appeal judgment, the same sentence as that imposed on him at first instance. He had been on appeal since Tuesday with three of his brothers for violence outside a nightclub in 2011.

Three years in prison were requested Thursday in Nancy against former footballer Tony Vairelles, tried on appeal since Tuesday with three of his brothers for violence at the exit of a discotheque in 2011, the same sentence as that pronounced against him in first instance. The deputy attorney general, Bernard Marchal, requested the same sentences as in the first instance for all the protagonists: from one to three years in prison for the Vairelles brothers, and three to four months suspended imprisonment for the three security guards of the nightclub.

Without omitting the "physical and professional sequelae" of each other, the prosecutor's office sought to underline "the certainties of the case". Or "three people wounded by bullet in a very short period of time": Carlos Di Napoli was shot in the stomach, his brother Baldassare two bullets in the hands, and their colleague Peter Gerdum was wounded in the thigh.

>> READ ALSO – Tony Vairelles wants to launch a reality show on football, he explains

'Mysterious shooter'

"We know that it was during the confrontation between the Vairelles brothers and the Di Napoli brothers that the bullets were fired, there is no doubt," said Bernard Marchal. The Vairelles clan puts forward the thesis "of a mysterious shooter, who would have defended them without anyone seeing him?" asks Mr. Marchal. "No weapons were found at the scene. However, we know, because of the caliber of the bullets found, that at least two shooters acted," he added.

Highlighting the personalities of the various protagonists, "brawlers" for the Vairelles "according to the reported words of some members of their family", and in front of "security agents, who in 15 years of work have never had a single conviction", the prosecutor concludes that the first have for "mode of operation a clan behavior", which led them to do "private justice" on the guards.

Tony Vairelles and his brothers were accused of opening fire and wounding the three security guards in the parking lot of a nightclub in Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) in October 2011. The former player has always maintained his innocence. Imprisoned for five months at the beginning of the investigation, he was sentenced at first instance in May 2022 for "violence in assembly, with premeditation and with a weapon" to five years in prison, two of which were suspended.