from 4 months suspended to 6 months firm

Six of the seven Nancy night police officers tried on appeal for “moral harassment at work” last March were found guilty and sentenced to sentences ranging from 4 months suspended to 6 months firm (24 months including 18 suspended ). This last sentence, which can be modified in the form of an electronic bracelet, was awarded to the official whom the prosecution had considered to be the ” pack leader “ , who also receives a permanent ban on exercising a public function on a permanent basis. Five temporary bans on exercising the profession of police officer have also been pronounced (from one to five years). One of the defendants was acquitted of this offense of moral harassment.

Also prosecuted for non-public racist insults towards one of their colleagues, four of these seven police officers were sentenced to fines (from 500 to 2,700 €).

At the end of his requisitions during this appeal trial, Jean-Jacques Bosc, the public prosecutor, had demanded sentences ranging from 4 to 24 months suspended prison sentence. The court went further. “The image that the police officers present in court convey is contrary to the image that the police must represent,” noted the magistrate. “I am at the end of my career, this story is distressing. These officials have dishonored the police who must not drift like this in a democracy”.

Penalties on the rise

Convicted police officers have five days to lodge an appeal in cassation. The six defendants convicted of moral harassment at work will also have to pay a total of more than €71,000 in damages to the four victims of these acts. Damages for moral damage but also for damage to physical or psychological integrity.

At first instance, in Nancy, in March 2022, ten police officers had appeared for these same offenses of moral harassment at work and non-public racist insults. Three of them had been released. The other seven defendants received suspended prison sentences. ranging from 6 to 18 months.

“An environment where omerta reigns”

It was in June 2018 that this case broke out following a report by a commissioner. During the investigation, the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) had produced edifying reports in which it referred to “serious abuses for many years”, police officers “quarantined, stigmatized and insulted, even despised and humiliated by their own co-workers”.

“We hoped that the Court of Appeal would show a lot of firmness and it went beyond what we could imagine,” said Ms.^e Berna, counsel, with his colleague Pasina, of the four victims. “Our customers are relieved. These files are indeed difficult to carry out, the legal battles are long and bringing back the proof is complicated, especially in this environment where omerta reigns ”.