The 23-year-old Algerian-born defendant is assisted by a translator at the court in Bayonne on April 4. He is on trial for repeatedly beating a police officer in the Hendaye deportation prison on March 1, for setting fire to the mattress in his cell the next day and burning the arm of the guard who was trying to protect him… And finally, because three days later he wilfully damaged the sanitary facilities in Bayonne prison.
(…) This was followed by a severe slap in the face, which the 20-year-old does not deny… Nor does he deny starting the fire: “I was still angry. The insult to my father had stuck in my head”. So be it. But what about the damage to the sanitary facilities? “I was put in a cell for suicidal people,” the accused responded.
(…) According to the psychiatric report, “he can’t stand authority, even if he knows the rules”. The young man also refuses to take medication that could calm his outbursts of rage, “because of Ramadan”. He has a long criminal record and is sentenced to 15 months in prison without parole and a five-year entry ban in France. (…) Sud Ouest