Marseille: Violence against LFI activists: Suspended sentence requested for former Socialist Party deputy
Sébastien Jibrayel and his father, Henri Jibrayel, are being prosecuted for participating in violence against two LFI activists who came to put up posters. The former was Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan's deputy for sports until March.
A 24-month suspended prison sentence was requested Thursday for Sébastien Jibrayel, former Socialist Party deputy mayor of Marseille, who is being prosecuted for violence against two LFI activists who came to put up posters in working-class neighborhoods in the north of the city. This case led DVG mayor Benoît Payan to strip Sébastien Jibrayel of his delegation and all of his municipal responsibilities in March.
Sébastien Jibrayel, former deputy for sports, his father Henri, a former Socialist Party MP, and two other men are being prosecuted before the Marseille judicial court for acts of group violence resulting in temporary incapacity for work not exceeding eight days against two LFI activists on January 18. "Democracy was on the ground that day," lamented the prosecutor, who requested a 24-month suspended prison sentence for Sébastien Jibrayel, and an 18-month suspended prison sentence for Henri Jibrayel. She also requested a three-year deprivation of civil rights for both men.
CCTV footage viewed during the hearing shows two LFI activists taking down posters in front of a school. A crowd then gathers around them, and one of the LFI activists is beaten, punched, and kicked. Sébastien and Henri Jibrayel appear in the footage arriving by car, joining the crowd, and then leaving. The prosecutor also requested a two-year prison sentence, including one year suspended, for Mohammed Aboud, who admitted to having inflicted the blows and explained in court that he had "lost control" of himself. For the fourth man, Lyece Choulak, a district councilor for the 15th and 16th arrondissements of Marseille, she requested a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
The CCTV footage shows "an unprecedented outbreak of violence," said Yones Taguelmint, lawyer for the LFI activists. It shows "a single active individual, but a group is forming to give verbal and physical instructions for the violence to continue," Taguelmint analyzed.
"At no time did my client strike a blow, at no time did my client touch the civil parties," insisted Sébastien Jibrayel's lawyer, Benjamin Liautaud. The events took place in the constituency of the Insoumis MP for Marseille, Sébastien Delogu , who had denounced "intolerable" violence in January. The verdict will be delivered on July 3.
Le Progres
