A Paris court sentenced former aide to French President Emmanuel Macron Alexander Benall to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, Le Monde reported. He faced 12 charges, including violent actions against demonstrators, police interference and illegal use of diplomatic passports.
Alexandru Benalla is allowed to serve a year of imprisonment under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. He was also fined € 500, banned from holding any public office for five years, and his weapons confiscated.
In addition, three other defendants were prosecuted: two police officers, Maxance Croesa and Laurent Simonin, and Vincent Kraz, a former member of Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique en Marche party. Maxance Croesus was sentenced to a fine of € 5,000, Laurent Simonin was sentenced to three months’ suspended imprisonment, and Vincent Kraz received a two-year suspended prison sentence, a fine of 500 euros, and he was also banned from carrying weapons for ten years.
Recall that in the summer of 2018, a scandal erupted around Mr. Benall when the Le Monde newspaper published a recording of an incident that took place in Paris during a demonstration on May 1. It shows how the police detain a demonstrator, which one of them hits on the back of the head and knocks to the ground. The attacker was recognized as Alexander Benall, an assistant to the president, who has nothing to do with the police.
Read more about the scandal in the publication of Kommersant.
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