The immediate appearances continue after the numerous arrests following the riots triggered by the death of Nahel on June 27. At the Bobigny Criminal Court, three young adults were notably tried on Tuesday for damage to the town hall.
“Who are you judging? An enemy of the nation or a 19-year-old boy full of dreams?” With his mouth glued to the microphone, leaning against the window of the box, Frédéric* asks the question to the president of the 13th correctional chamber of Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), when he is invited to pronounce his last words before the court does not withdraw to deliberate. The young man is tried in immediate appearance, Tuesday, July 4, for damage and deterioration with dangerous means at the town hall of Bobigny. Facts committed on the night of June 28 to 29, during urban violence following the death of Nahel, this teenager killed by the police on June 27 in Nanterre.
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Frédéric is also on trial for possession of a category B weapon, “a 1911 Colt, only found in video games”, thrown out of the window when he was arrested. “In front of you, I regretted, and I still regret”, excuses the young man. He implores the clemency of the president of the court: “I can’t catch up in jail, sir.”
In vain. After four hours of hearing, the student, who lives with his roofer father and his disabled mother and who wishes to reorient himself in psychology after an aborted year in a law degree, is sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment, of which six suspended sentences, prohibition to possess a weapon for ten years and a fine of 1,500 euros. A warrant of deposit is issued. So he goes straight back to jail. A sentence welcomed by a “Oh” of consternation in a courtroom where many relatives came to lend their support.
The sentence pronounced against Frédéric is almost in conformity with the requisitions of the prosecutor, who had pointed “his integration into the band” who destroyed part of the town hall of Bobigny, in which there was a security guard. It was also during that night that the bus belonging to the Cœur des femmes association, parked in the square opposite, was set on fire.
“I wanted to show others what I was capable of”
How did Frédéric find himself at the center of this violence? Wake up “around 2:30 a.m.”, the young man says he went out half an hour later to film the trash fires and the ongoing destruction on the slab of the Paul-Eluard housing estate, where he lives. Then, one thing leading to another, he found himself mixed up with the group that forced entry to the nearby town hall. Frédéric, a young black man who “a recognizable corpulence”according to the prosecutor, is identified in the CCTV footage.
“What interests us is to understand how, from photoreporting, you become the author of degradations”observes the president of the court. “I felt cornered by the situation, I was afraid of reprisals, I wanted to show others what I was capable of in order to ‘buy’ my freedom in the neighborhood”, he justifies himself. “I knew it would have a political and social impact, that’s why I decided to filmhe adds shortly after. Then I understood that it was to do, in quotes, better than in 2005.
According to the elements reported to the hearing, between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., the firing of fireworks mortars and Molotov cocktails rocketed from one side to the other. The police responded with five LBD shots. In a hurry, Frédéric dropped his phone. He fled and was shot in the leg by a flashball. It is this black smartphone, found in the middle of the debris of the windows of the salon d’honneur, which made it possible to trace him and the two other defendants. Thanks to the exploitation of Frédéric’s telephone, the police officers of the Territorial Security of Seine-Saint-Denis were able to obtain, in addition, the IP addresses of these three men. As well as that of a minor, who is the subject of a separate procedure, given his age.
“I told myself that I could help myself”
Present at his side, Dylan *, 19, is tried for complicity in inciting the degradation of the town hall of Bobigny, while Abdelkrim *, 18, is tried for burglary. The latter recovered nine tracksuits from a gutted sports store after the launch of a ram vehicle at the Drancy shopping center on the night of June 29 to 30. “Since I have no income, I told myself that it would give me free clothes, for my loved ones too”he explains to the president of the court, who is surprised to see him appear again, when he had already been sentenced for a theft nearly four months earlier. “I didn’t think I could be challenged. I thought about enjoying the moment, since I was on my way home. I figured I could help myself.”
Like Abdelkrim, Dylan and Frédéric recognize the facts for which they appear. Above all, the three young men have another point in common, which justifies their simultaneous referral to court: they exchanged messages in the same discussion group on Snapchat, behind pseudonyms such as “pasdechance” or “gouverneur75”. “At the beginning of the creation of the group, we discussed the death of Nahel. Then, we commented on what we saw”describes Abdelkrim.
“In the messages you send, there is a form of incitement to riot”replies the president of the court. “Long and beautiful life in Nahel”, “go it fucks his town hall”, “we put trash cans so that the schmitts [les policiers] they don’t pass, you have to burn them all one by one”… To illustrate his point, the magistrate reads some of them in a monotonous tone. Smiles form on faces in the crowded courtroom.
“It was to give me an image”
It is also a question, continues the president, of burning the court of Bobigny, the same one where the three young men are judged. On Snapchat, a participant responds: “Are you crazy or what, do you want to kill the guys at the depot?” “Are you the one writing?”, asks the magistrate to Dylan. The latter nods. “I didn’t think about what I was writing. I said that ironically. I wasn’t going to leave to burn the court… It was to give me an image, there was nothing serious”replies the young man with light brown hair and a growing beard.
The president of the court insists and seeks to grasp the political motivations behind Dylan’s words and actions. “I would like to understand what society you would like to live in. A society with burning tobacco? A society where you can fight every night?”he asks. “I would like to live in a perfect society where there is no violence”replies the young man. “Everyone would like to live in a perfect society”replies the magistrate.
Abdelkrim wishes to dissociate himself from “rioters”, of which he assures that he does not “not gone”. “These are acts of pure madness, it should calm down, because what is burning are our parents’ cars, our parents’ shops”, he says into the microphone. Agitated by nervous tics, he loses his temper when the presiding judge questions him about facts for which he is not on trial.
“I’m just asking for an alternative to prison”
His lawyer, appointed ex officio, recounts in his argument the “seesaw” of his client “when he is out of school”. After stopping his studies in first class, he was sentenced twice for theft, one with violence. The young adult, placed for a few months with his grandmother, has not managed to re-enroll in another establishment, but aspires to train as a stretcher-bearer. He “lift your head out of the water”, pleads his lawyer, who urges justice to “to be an outstretched hand”. “Today, I’m just asking for an alternative to prison, to be reintegrated into this Republic that I love”, he defends himself, in his last words. But he too did not escape incarceration: he was sentenced to 12 months in prison with a warrant of committal. A sentence in accordance with the requisitions.
Dylan is sentenced to 18 months in prison, including six months suspended and 12 months of house arrest, with the wearing of an electronic bracelet. Followed by an educator, he lives with his parents and hopes to become a computer engineer. “The court takes into account the fact that your criminal record bears no trace of any conviction. You have a stable project and registration in training”, explains the president. A broad smile lights up his face. He will be able to come out free and, from Thursday, present himself for the baccalaureate remedial test.
*Names have been changed