At the criminal court in Saint-Etienne, a suspended sentence of one year was demanded against two people. They were charged with violence in an assembly and with intent. Last June, they had shouted Allah Akbar in the sales rooms of Casino Monthieu (photo above).
On the witness stand at the Saint-Étienne criminal court this Monday, 52-year-old Brahim made an effort to convince the judges of his probity. On June 7, 2020, he had not expected such a reaction from the other customers in Monthieu.
For him, Allahu Akbar is a call to prayer, not a “war cry”, as he wants the presiding judge Catherine Vaillant to believe. He and his 38-year-old friend Mehdi defend themselves with this: they had a spiritual discussion, it was a “cry of the heart”.
But the prosecution recalls the facts: Almost 200 people were brought to safety. In the panic, a man who is now a joint plaintiff fell on his one-and-a-half-year-old son and broke his shoulder. The child is fine, but for the father the psychological shock is still palpable today.
The prosecutor speaks of “provocateurs” who could not have been aware of the consequences of such an act. He demands one year in prison on probation. The judges will announce their verdict on December 20.