He's not a drug dealer, but his cannabis and his handgun land him in prison

Le procès s'est tenu ce lundi 19 février, au palais de justice d'Alès. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

This Monday, February 19, two "friends" Gard, one from Rousson and one from La Grand-Combe, were tried before the Alès criminal court.

After an attempted armed robbery during which shots were fired, at the beginning of the month, the gendarmes opened an investigation which led them to focus on a 35-year-old man from Rousson. As part of their investigations, they searched his home on February 15 and discovered more than 150 g of cannabis, a handgun, four telephones and 3,500 € cash. The thirty-year-old, who refuses to give smartphone unlocking codes and says he is a drug user, explains, when it comes to his professional activity, that he &quot ;helps out" a friend, aged 26, who runs a grocery store in La Grand-Combe. In this trade, the soldiers got their hands on almost 80 g of hash, nearly 150 sachets that could be used as containers and four cartons of counterfeit cigarettes.

A visibly uncooperative defendant

Placed in police custody, then in pre-trial detention, these two are judged, this Monday, February 19, in immediate appearance before the Alès criminal court. The one who lives in Rousson, whose criminal record is clean, is not very cooperative. He "don't know why" he bought a gun. As he does not explain why his accomplice declared to the gendarmes that the drugs discovered in La Grand-Combe belonged to him. This friend, precisely, assures his judges that the shit does not belong to him, that he would have been encouraged to name his co-defendant during police custody and concludes, finally, that he does not know who the accused was. rsquo;where do these products come from…

The public prosecutor: "It's not giving a damn about the world"

Abdelkrim Grini, the public prosecutor, does not beat around the bush: "The facts, for me, clearly fit in drug trafficking with, to color the picture, a grocery store which is an empty shell." Indeed, the manager does not keep any accounts and has great difficulty explaining his activity. Turning towards the thirty-year-old, the prosecutor evokes "the perfect panoply of the trafficker and of those who engage in drug trafficking", before emphasizing that the fight against drug dealers is "the priority of priorities". The statements he heard annoy him: "Don't let anyone take us for fools, tell us anything and everything […] It's not giving a damn about the world." And the grandcombien trade ? "A front grocery store that serves certainly to justify income, with a straw manager", blurts out the public prosecutor. "This is my personal belief." For the Roussonnais, he demands 30 months in prison, including 12 to 15 months with probation, 1,500 € fine and continued detention; for the second, who has two entries in his criminal record, he wants nine to 12 months, part of which is suspended on probation, 1,000 € fine, and he refers it to headquarters regarding possible retention in the cell.

"The file is empty", argues the defense

Lawyer for the thirty-year-old, Me Aurélien Vergani says he is "stunned". By the "requisitions, the penalties requested, and the ease with which (the prosecutor) managed to put together a case& quot;. The council contests any traffic, considers that "the file is empty", that the floor only cracks "statements", "assumptions" and "dizzying shortcuts". Me Camille Monestier, for her part, maintains that the “manager” "has nothing to do with drug trafficking or possession" and calls for leniency on cigarettes contraband.

The relatives blame the blow…

The magistrates of the seat concede that there is no drug trafficking, but, for the rest of the offenses, the sentences fall. In addition to a fine of €1,000, the grocer received one year, half of which was suspended on probation; the firm part is to be carried out under an electronic bracelet. The thirty-year-old is sentenced to two years, half of which is suspended on probation, and 1,500 € fine. He does not escape continued detention. In the courtroom, his loved ones blame the coup…

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