Update on the Benalla case, forty-eight hours after the first revelations

The Benalla case took a new turn Friday, July 20 with the announcement by the Elysee, a dismissal procedure for Alexandre Benalla and his placement in police custody.

The diffusion of videos showing this person in charge of mission to the chief of staff of the presidency of the Republic and in charge of security, identified by Le Monde striking a young man during the demonstrations of 1 ^and May, caused a flood of criticisms and questions, and led to chain reactions.

Our revelations:
        
    
          "The World" identifies, on a video, a Macron employee hitting a protester, May 1, in Paris
          

• "New facts", Alexandre Benalla soon dismissed

Under pressure, the Elysée finally released Alexandre Benalla, forty-eight hours after the first revelations of World. The sanctions taken so far, a layoff of two weeks with suspension of salary and a change of posting, were a "last warning before dismissal" had warned Thursday the spokesman of the Elysée, Bruno Roger-Petit

Arguing from "new facts constituting a fault committed" and making "the subject of a judicial procedure" the Elysee Palace announced Friday to have "made the decision to initiate the procedure of dismissal of Alexander Benalla" . Without giving more details, the Presidency justified this decision by the fact that it, "for the purpose of proving its innocence, […] would have been the recipient of a document of the Prefecture of Police that it was not allowed to detain ".

There is every reason to believe that " document " to which the Elysee refers are video-protection images, in connection with the preliminary investigation open, which were "improperly communicated to a third party on the evening of July 18" as revealed by the police prefecture in a press release on Friday. It is for having extracted these images that three executives of the police prefecture of Paris were suspended, Thursday evening, as a precautionary measure. Condemnations "heavily" by the Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb

Understand why
        
    
          three police officers were suspended
          

• Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase placed in police custody

In the morning, Mr. Benalla was taken into custody in Paris as part of the preliminary investigation opened the day before. It is aimed for facts of "violence in meeting by person in charge of a public service mission" "usurpation of functions" "illegal port of badges reserved to the public authority" and "complicity of diversion of images from a video-protection system" .

The investigation was opened on the initiative of the Paris public prosecutor's office, and the investigations were entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police and the Crime Squad against the Person

Vincent Crase, a Reservist Constable and Receptionist for the Republic in Motion (LRM), who accompanied Alexandre Benalla and the police during the demonstrations of 1 ^er May, was also placed in custody Friday for "meeting violence by person charged with a public service mission" and "usurpation of function" .

• The director of cabinet of the Elysée heard as a witness

Superior hierarchical of Mr. Benalla at the Elysée, the director of cabinet of Emmanuel Macron, Patrick Strzoda, was heard Thursday as a witness in the investigation. It was he who had issued an authorization to Alexander Benalla to assist as "observer" at the Paris demonstration of 1 ^and May.

Contacted by Le Monde before the publication of the article revealing the brutalities committed by Mr. Benalla, Mr. Strzoda claimed to have summoned his collaborator on May 1 ^and after having seen the videos of the violence. The director of cabinet also assured to have immediately warned the President of the Republic, while traveling in Australia.

According to our information, Alexandre Benalla had a number of privileges with the Elysee. The former "Security" of the President of the Republic had himself declared to be domiciled, since July 9, in an outbuilding of the Elysee, 11, Quai Branly, in the very chic 7 ^e arrondissement of Paris. In addition to this prestigious accommodation, he has a car with driver.

Our decryption:
        
    
          When the "Alexandre's band" follows Macron at the Elysée
          

• Committees of inquiry and motion of censure

While the judicial inquiry is at its beginning, many questions remain unanswered: why the Elysee did not he took stronger sanctions ? Why did he not report Mr. Benalla's actions to justice? Why did he continue working for the Elysée?

Read the reactions:
        
    
          the dismissal greeted by the majority, oppositions denounce "lies" of Collomb
          

On Friday, the parliamentary debates were again parasitized by the affair, while the National Assembly's Committee on the Laws announced the day before having turned into a commission of inquiry for a period of one month, so to shed light on "the events that occurred on the occasion of the Paris demonstration of 1 ^er May 2018" . The Senate Law Commission has announced that it will hear Gerard Collomb early next week and that it will also ask Monday, the prerogatives of a commission of inquiry, for a period of six months. For their part, the deputies of the insubordinate France have proposed to all parliamentarians to table together a motion of censure of the government.

At the heart of the turmoil, Emmanuel Macron remained stoic and silent, repeatedly refusing to answer questions from journalists while he was traveling in the Dordogne on Thursday. Friday, contrary to the usual practice during a visit of Head of State, Mr. Macron's lunch with President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, was not followed by a joint press conference of the two leaders.

See also:
        
    
                Benalla case: the executive to the trouble