Man Convicted Of Insulting Sarkozy; Gets Community Service
Last update: 6/25/2010 12:10:37 PM
PARIS (AFP)--A court Friday convicted a young man of insulting Nicolas Sarkozy when the president made a surprise visit to a poor Paris suburb which he once promised to "clean out with a power hose."
Mohamed Bridji was sentenced to 35 hours community service for telling Sarkozy to "go screw yourself asshole, you're in my territory here," when the French leader went Wednesday to La Corneuve.
He was charged with three offenses:
insulting behavior to the president of the republic,
insulting behavior to police officers, and
resisting arrest.
He appeared in court in Bobigny with facial bruising from injuries he received during his arrest. Three police officers involved in his arrest were each awarded EUR75 in damages and a day's sick leave from work.
A television cameraman said he had been slapped by one of the officers guarding Sarkozy, who was accompanied by his interior minister on the unannounced visit, when he tried to film Bridji's arrest. Pierre Lassus of France 3 television said he "was there by chance, working on a different subject" when he spotted Sarkozy in La Corneuve, a poor northern suburb where a majority of residents are of immigrant origin.
"When Sarkozy's security officers arrested him I tried to film it but we weren't able to. Then one of the men came up to me and slapped me, saying 'Don't film,'" Lassus said in a statement on radio station Europe 1's website.
The journalists' union SNJ-CGT said it was lodging a complaint.
(END)
Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2010 12:10 ET (16:10 GMT)
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