the appeal hearing of rugby player Bastien Chalureau scheduled for November – Liberation

2023-09-04 16:39:56

2023 Rugby World Cup in FrancedossierConvicted in 2020 for acts of racist violence against other athletes, the Montpellier resident had requested a dismissal of his hearing, scheduled for March before the Toulouse Court of Appeal. Which had been granted to him this fall, on a date after the Rugby World Cup.

A few days before the opening of the Rugby World Cup, a controversy shakes the ranks of the XV of France. At issue: the selection, at the last minute, of Montpellier’s Bastien Chalureau, convicted three years ago of racist violence. On Saturday September 2, the deputy La France insoumise Thomas Portes thus arrested the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, asking for the non-selection of the player and judging that “the call in selection of Chalureau is an insult to the memory of Federico Martín Aramburú, killed in the middle of Paris by the Nazis, and to all the victims of racism”.

As advertised with @FraPiquemal we interpellate @AOC1978 on :

➡️a minute of silence for F. Aramburu
➡️the trivialization of racism during rugby matches
➡️the selection of B. Chalureau

We are going to organize a symposium “Another rugby is possible” at the National Assembly pic.twitter.com/So94gDQFHb

— Thomas Doors (@Doors_Thomas) September 4, 2023

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra’s response was not long in coming. On Sunday, the minister considered that “pending the final court decision, everyone must let justice do its job calmly, respecting the presumption of innocence”. In a press release, she indeed claimed to have ensured that Bastien Chalureau had appealed the first decision – this one being suspensive in nature. On the coach side, if Fabien Galthié recalled that “racism had no place in the team”, he also added, when asked about the possible impact of the affair on the morale of the troops: “The World Cup , it’s not for wimps.”

“He attacked me as a traitor”

Bastien Chalureau’s first conviction came in November 2020, for acts that were committed earlier in the year, in January. The two civil parties, former rugby players Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif, describe an attack that occurred after an alcoholic evening in Toulouse. The victims claim to have heard racist insults, in particular a first interjection: “How are you, googlings?” Yannick Larguet then confided to the Dispatch : “He continued his racist insults unceasingly. I wanted to turn around and he landed a punch with all his might in the jaw. I did not see anything coming. He attacked me like a traitor. I backed up, I was in the fog. During that time, he hit my boyfriend.” For his part, the respondent acknowledges the violence, but has always denied the racist nature of the attack.

The fact remains that at the end of this trial at first instance, Bastien Chalureau was sentenced to six months in prison suspended (the prosecution had requested eight), and a five-year ban on possession of a weapon.

The rugby player’s former lawyer, Antoine Tugas, who accompanied him during the trial at first instance, confirms to CheckNews that he has indeed filed the appeal in the rules, that is to say within ten days of the statement of the sentence. The rehearing has since not taken place. The lawyer for the civil parties, Laurent Sabounji, tells us that the file was initially to be raised before the Toulouse Court of Appeal on March 28, 2023. Date on which the defense of the rugby player requested a dismissal, due to a day of strike transport and shortage of fuel, which had been granted to him.

“The lawyer does not choose the dates of dismissal”

The date of a new trial is therefore now set for November 14, confirms the athlete’s new lawyer, David Mendel. Either after the end of the World Cup. Asked about a possible explicit request to postpone the trial after the World Cup, David Mendel replied in the negative, indicating that “the lawyer does not choose the dates of dismissal” and that he had proposed an earlier date, at the May. Asked, the Toulouse Court of Appeal did not respond immediately.

“We are eighteen to twenty-four months after the first conviction, continues Laurent Sabounji. Alas, it is a usual delay in France for the judgment in appeal of a person who is not detained. Logically, Bastien Chalureau therefore benefits from the presumption of innocence until a final sentence is pronounced. In this regard, my clients have full confidence in justice. What surprises me is that the case is back on the table today, in what looks like the political recovery of a subject that already existed. Because Chalureau has been playing for the France team for a year, without arousing the slightest indignation. However, a year ago, the first court decision was already known.

clarification

Edit Monday 5:30 p.m.: addition of the reaction of Bastien Chalureau’s lawyer.