Drunk and angry on the crowded beach, the former Croatian legionnaire attacked the police in Palavas

The behavior of the former legionnaire had forced the municipal police to intervene on the beach. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

On July 20, this 58-year-old man, under the influence of alcohol, had started to cause a scandal on the crowded beach in the center of Palavas. During their intervention, the municipal police officers had been covered in insults, some of them racist. Still angry, more than a month after the events, this former legionnaire was sentenced to ten months in prison.

The municipal police officers of Palavas have not forgotten this intervention, on July 20th at 2pm. This Saturday, the beaches of the resort are crowded but a man has, it seems, decided to disturb this summer atmosphere. Irritated, a can in his hand, he behaves in a way that prompts several people to request the intervention of a patrol.

Racist insults

Arriving on site, she is then copiously insulted by the individual. The insults are aimed at two police officers in particular and are accompanied by an assumed racist character. Fairly drunk, this fifty-year-old is placed in a sobering-up cell at the gendarmerie and will not be questioned until the following day.

On July 22, he was placed in pre-trial detention after requesting time to prepare his defense and it was on Monday August 26 that Goran, originally from Croatia and a former legionnaire, returned to court. The five weeks of imprisonment did not really lessen his aggressiveness, his tendency to rant and accuse municipal agents of being “anti-Christian and anti-Semitic”.

“It's a plot”

In front of the judges, he denied any state of drunkenness. “I was not at all drunk. I was in a secondary or tertiary state but in relation to my psychology,he explains, sometimes referring to the Holocaust and the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. An expert report revealed that the defendant had a traumatic past linked to the Serbo-Croatian conflict, as well as a “temperamental disposition”. This is a central element. But this is not a justification” believes the representative of the prosecution who also notes the inadequacy of his medical monitoring.

In addition to the facts he is accused of, Goran has a criminal record full of 24 convictions, many of which are for contempt. “My criminal record was fabricated by the secret services. It's a plot”, he replies. “Can we say that you have a problem with public authority ?”, asks the president. “Absolutely”, replies the person concerned. Faced with what they considered to be “a complicated operation to manage", particularly because of the racist insults, the five Palavasian police officers filed a civil suit. “They were ultra-professional despite his anger and rage”, one of their lawyers points out.

Ban on appearing in Hérault

Goran, for his part, decided to do without counsel, immediately before the hearing. He was sentenced to ten months in prison and banned from the Hérault department for 3 years.

He will also have to pay damages for moral prejudice to the five agents of the station, one of whom was particularly targeted by the racist insults. The former legionnaire accepted the sentence without flinching.

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