16h27 – Benalla case: update on the judicial investigation

An Emmanuel Macron collaborator in police custody as well as three senior police officers, the chief of staff of the head of state heard as a witness: here is an update on the investigation opened by the justice on the Benalla affair, which plunges the executive into turmoil

. An investigation opened by the parquet of Paris

It is the parquet of Paris which took the initiative, Thursday morning, to open a preliminary investigation, a few hours after the revelations of the newspaper Le Monde. The investigations were entrusted to the BRDP and the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).

The Elysée acknowledged having been quickly informed of the actions of the advisor Alexandre Benalla: he was sanctioned by 15 days of layoff from 4 to 19 May and "removed from office in the organization of the President's travel security," according to spokesman Bruno Roger-Petit. According to press reports, the Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb was also on May 2.

According to the second paragraph of Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the public prosecutor should have been seized for these facts, but no member of the executive has done so, which makes the opposition say that the power has sought to stifle the case.

In addition to this judicial inquiry, another, administrative was launched by the "police of the police" and a third by the National Assembly

. Close to the authorities concerned

Two men were placed in police custody on Friday: Alexandre Benalla, whose Elysee announced the same day the dismissal, and Vincent Crase, reservist of the gendarmerie like him and employed by The Republic in market. They were filmed striking protesters on May 1 in Paris, Place de la Contrescarpe (5th arrondissement).

Then "chargé de mission" at the Elysee Palace as badistant to the chief of staff of the president, Alexandre Benalla was allowed to attend the demonstrations alongside the police as an observer that day. He was placed in police custody for "meeting violence by a person in charge of a public service mission", "usurpation of functions", "illegal wearing of badges reserved for the public authority" and "complicity in embezzlement. 'images from a system of video-protection.'

Vincent Crase, present at his side and under the same conditions, was on the other hand placed in custody for "violence in meetings by person in charge of a public service mission "and" usurpation of functions "

These two police custody were extended on Saturday morning, for a duration of up to 24 hours.

Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff at the Elysee, Patrick Strzoda, who retires in October, was heard as a witness on Thursday. It was he who laid off Mr. Benalla

. Three police officers in police custody

Three police officers, who are suspected of having transmitted video surveillance images to Mr. Benalla, have also been in custody since Saturday morning, for "misappropriation of images from a video-protection system "and" breach of professional secrecy. "

They belong to the powerful Directorate of Public Order and Traffic (DOPC), the Paris Police Prefecture.

It s This includes the Deputy Chief of Staff. He had been a time for the Paris Saint-Germain security department, but his departure was dismissed by the ethics committee.

The two other policemen in police custody are a commissioner present at the time of the events, and charged to make the connection between the police prefecture and the mobile forces, as well as a commander in charge of the relations between the prefecture of police and the Elysee, reported sources close to the file.

They were suspended as a precaution on Friday and the Minister of the Interior has "heavily condemned" their actions.

Counsel for the Commissioner, Mr. Thibault de Montbrial, reacted on Twitter saying that his client intended to speak on "the proximity (…) between the highest police hierarchy and Mr. Benalla "