The trial was to be held in October but had been postponed at the request of the defence, who wanted the images of the altercation, filmed by two CCTV cameras, to be projected before the criminal court.
On August 30, 2017, Boris Faure, PS first secretary of the Federation of French Abroad, met by chance M’jid El Guerrab, new LREM MP for French Abroad. The conversation quickly escalates between the two politicians, who have been at odds since the departure of M’jid El Guerrab’s PS for Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche at the end of 2016.
The “video tape contradicts most of the testimonies in the file”, Mr. El Guerrab’s lawyer, Antoine Vey, told AFP. According to him, the deputy is “grabbed by the arm” and then strikes with his helmet in “a gesture of defense, a reflex”, he does not strike a “blow on the ground” and “stays until the arrival of the police”.
The deputy, now 38, “is not going to dispute the nature of the facts” and “apologized” for the consequences of his gesture, but he wants to recognize that “he too was insulted and then assaulted”, even if the violence is “not of the same intensity”, added Me Vey.
“A smokescreen”, replied one of Boris Faure’s lawyers, Patrick Klugman, considering that “the inversion of responsibilities is the constant of Mr. El Guerrab”.
The images are on the contrary “overwhelming for the defendant”, who “clearly goes into contact”, he assured AFP.
According to the prosecution, despite the complaint for “willful violence” filed by the deputy immediately following the altercation, the violence and the intensity of the blows he carried are disproportionate to the gesture of Mr. Faure.
Suffering from a head trauma and a cerebral hemorrhage, the latter had been operated on urgently and had spent three days in intensive care, before being hospitalized once more a few days later.
“The surgeons worked well on August 30, 2017. (…) The cerebral hematoma was dangerous. My vital prognosis was engaged. 48 years old today.
“I demand justice. Without bitterness or resentment. Full and complete justice for acts of extreme violence”, also declared on April 1 in a blog post the one who is now union official at the UNSA.
Mr. El Guerrab’s complaint had initially been dismissed, but this decision was canceled last November, for questions of form, according to the defense submissions sent to Mr. Klugman.
Me Vey intends to ask Thursday for a new dismissal for this reason, seeing it as proof that the “file was badly instructed”.
“It’s a scandal, five years following the facts”, reacted Me Klugman, considering that it is a “delaying strategy on the part of the defense, which aims to do everything to prevent Mr. El Guerrab is tried before the legislative elections” of June 12 and 19.
Prosecuted for having “voluntarily committed violence resulting in total incapacity for work for more than eight days” with “one weapon per destination”, M’jid El Guerrab faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Faced with the outcry caused by this affair, he resigned from the presidential party in September 2017, while keeping his parliamentary mandate.
