“Very violent images existed and they were deleted seven days after the fact, why were they not requisitioned?” The Socialist Senator’s Question David Assouline illustrates the misunderstanding that spread on the benches of the Senate, Thursday, June 9, after the hearing of the director of institutional relations of the French Football Federation (FFF), Erwan Le Prévost.
The latter has indeed revealed that the CCTV images of the Stade de France concerning the finale of the Champions League, on May 28 in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), had been “automatically destroyed”while the exact sequence of events during this chaotic evening is still debated. Back to this new controversy, which arises at the heart of an already sensitive file.
Which images are affected?
“Present at PC Security” the evening of the events, Erwan Le Prévost claimed to have been able to view “extremely violent images”captured live by the 220 private cameras at the Stade de France. CCTV cameras film the stands, as well as the immediate surroundings of the stadium, from the stairs to the gates, explained a judicial source to France Télévisions. According to information from franceinfo, we could mainly see fights between supporters and stewards, at the immediate entrance to the Stade de France, at the turnstiles and at the lockers.
The video surveillance images of the RATP and the SNCF have also been erased, said the two transport companies at the time. Parisian, again for lack of judicial requisition. The RATP (which operates line 13 of the metro, serving the Stade de France) like the SNCF (manager of the RER D and the section of the RER B concerned) only keep their images for 72 hours, after which they are automatically overwritten by new recordings.
On the other hand, the police headquarters said in a tweet that the images of the cameras located on the public highway had not been erased. These are “at the disposal of justice”said the prefecture.
#Stade de France | The images in the possession of the @prefpolice are obviously always at the disposal of justice, within the framework of requisitions drawn up in a criminal investigation. Do not confuse images of the police with images of a private operator. pic.twitter.com/FFeZmRZ2FZ
— Prefecture of Police (@prefpolice) June 9, 2022
Why weren’t they kept?
“The images are available for seven days. They are then automatically destroyed. We should have had a requisition to provide them” to the authorities, detailed Erwan Le Prévost during his hearing before the senators. However, the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (Cnil) recalls on its site that “the retention period of images from a camera filming the public highway or a place open to the public […] should not exceed one month.
Why were the CCTV images from the Stade de France cameras deleted after only a week? “The Stade de France warns in its contracts that it can only keep the images on its servers for seven days. It is very expensive to store them for a very long time”, has explained Socialist Senator David Assouline, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Hearing Committee, at the microphone of franceinfo. “The law says one month, but they store them for seven days, so all the players who contract with the Stade de France know that.”he added.
“The images crash on their own within the time limit set by law. If the public prosecutor does not make a requisition, obviously they disappear”confirmed the senator Les Républicains François-Noël Buffet, president of the Senate law commission.
Who would haveû claim them?
Justice therefore had seven days to seize the images from the 220 CCTV cameras at the Stade de France. The Bobigny prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on May 31 into the “massive counterfeit fraud” following a report from the prefect of police, but not on the violence around the stadium. “We are surprised, the prefect took legal action very quickly, there was plenty of time to take [ces images]we need to understand what happened. declared to AFP the president of the senatorial commission of culture, education and communication, Laurent Lafon (centrist Union).
A judicial police officer in charge of the investigation finally demanded Thursday evening, at the request of the Bobigny prosecution, the seizure of CCTV images of the Stade de France, learned France Télévisions from a judicial source, confirming information from the World (subscribers). A request made a few hours after the destruction of the images was made public. The request is therefore likely to be unsuccessful.
This judicial source justifies the initial absence of seizure of these images by the fact that the cameras of the stadium film only the interior and the immediate surroundings of the stadium. However, still according to this source, the acts of violence which occurred during the final of the Champions League took place further. She also regrets that the FFF and those who were able to view these images did not alert justice earlier if they had seen facts there. “violent”. Some of the attacks denounced by supporters and the interventions criticized by the police nevertheless took place near these grids, which appear on many amateur images.
On Friday, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office finally announced that it had opened a second investigation for “theft”, “aggravated theft” and “aggravated violence”, and entrusted it to the Saint-Denis police station.
An oversight or an intentional failure?
Senator Michel Savin, president of the study group devoted to major sporting events, split a press release implicating the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, also present at the PC security on the evening of the final of the Champions League. In his press release, Michael Savin said to himself “extremely shocked” that the images were not requisitioned “while Minister Darmanin had nevertheless undertaken to provide them to us” during his hearing on June 1.
Pierre Barthélemy, lawyer for groups of supporters, denounces him “a last attempt to keep a gray area”a maneuver “to cover up this bogus argument of counterfeit notes”. A vision shared by Bruno Retailleau, leader of Les Républicains senators, for whom “everything suggests that we knowingly allowed compromising evidence to be destroyed”. Marine Le Pen also accused Gérald Darmanin for wanting “cover” of the “huge lies”. “It’s called covering your tracks” she reacted on BFMTV.
Senator David Assouline, interviewed at the microphone of franceinfo, deplored a “lack of coordination (…) incredible” but nevertheless recalled that“there is no[vait] no ‘delete’ button. “I hope we will learn that a computer scientist could restore these images that have been erased”he added. Across the Channel, thehe mayor of metropolitan Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, who was also on a Senate hearing and present in the stadium on match night, lamented the removal of CCTV footage and said he “could not understand why they had been destroyed”.
However, for Aurore Bergé, deputy president of the LREM group at the National Assembly, the removal of these CCTV images should not hinder the investigation. “We have enough elements”including pictures “toured multiple times, both by journalists and by supporters”, hasshe assured. “The images, you have them, they exist, and we have a lot of testimonies and images which should still make it possible to enlighten” the investigators, she estimated on RMC.