French police go on trial over Michel Zecler beating

Three French police officers went on trial Monday over the 2020 beating of black music producer Michel Zecler, a rare police brutality case to reach court in France.

Aurelien Lapersonne, 29, Pierre Plantier, 37, and Philippe Tondeux, 50, face charges of intentional violence committed in a group. They are also charged with forgery over an official report that prosecutors say was used to try to cover up their actions. They risk up to 15 years in prison in a trial expected to last two weeks.

Police stopped Zecler outside his Paris studio on November 21, 2020, accusing him of failing to wear a mandatory Covid face mask and suspecting cannabis use. They pushed him into the entrance of his office and beat him in an assault recorded by his studio's security cameras.

Investigators said Zecler suffered around 30 punches and truncheon blows to the face and body over about five minutes. A medical report recorded craniofacial trauma, wounds to the lip and scalp, and a complete rupture of his biceps tendon that left him unable to work for 45 days.

The officers said in an arrest report that Zecler had hit them and tried to seize a truncheon, but footage later released by French media website Loopsider contradicted that account.

France's ombudswoman has said police used racist insults during the assault, citing four witnesses. The accused officers deny this, and alleged racism was not included in the indictment. Zecler told AFP he was insulted and would repeat that at the hearing.

The case triggered renewed outrage in France over police violence. Campaigners and rights groups say it is evidence of systemic racism in French policing, while authorities and law enforcement unions say such cases are isolated.