The verdict will be delivered on May 16, but Tony Vairelles and his brother Fabrice may well not escape prison, in the case of the brawl in a nightclub, ten years ago, which would have led them to shoot three guards in the parking lot of a nightclub. The two men had come to defend their two younger brothers, Jimmy and Giova, in theestablishment The Four-Aces located in Essey-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle).
The parquet floor of Nancy demanded this Thursday three years in prison against Tony Vairelles, former striker of the French football team, tried since Monday with three of his brothers for violence with a weapon. The public prosecutor, François Pérain, also required three years firm against Fabrice Vairelles and 6 months firm for the other two brothers (Giovan and Jimmy).
“The one and only good justice is to [les] relax, since we are unable to prove with certainty whether it was one of them who fired, and if so, which one“, underlined Me Frédéric Berna, one of their lawyers joined by AFP.
“There is great confusion about what could have happened, the doubt must benefit everyone“, he insisted, specifying that he himself and the other councils of Vairelles had pleaded the nullity of the procedure, arguing the slowness of the investigation which saw four examining magistrates follow one another in ten years.
The three security guards of the nightclub are prosecuted for violence in meetings with weapons, in this case “a tear gas canister, security barriers and a truncheon“. The prosecution requested a four-month suspended sentence for one of them and the release for the other two, recognizing self-defense.
At the start of the trial, several witnesses had come to talk about their regular violence, they who had already been the subject of several complaints. However, these statements did not convince the prosecution, who concluded that the three bouncers were within their rights. Ten years after the events, none have been able to return to work: one of them is still disabled, the other two are in early retirement.
Tony Vairelles, from the gypsy community, was selected eight times for the France team, from 1998 to 2000 (1 goal). A colorful striker with the famous “mule cut”, he notably wore the colors of Lens, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bastia and Gueugnon. Although his career was almost over at the time of this case in October 2011, he was never able to find a job in football afterwards, having spent several months in prison before being released.
Tony Vairelles and his three brothers remain presumed innocent until the final judgment of this case.