In a verdigris-colored suit over a white shirt, he arrives in front of the desk, on which he hangs his hands. Michel Zecler, victim of police violence in 2020 in Paris, was heard for three hours, on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 10, as a civil party, at the trial of the three police officers accused of having beaten him. “My name is Michel Zecler, I am 47 years old, I am a music producer, I have been waiting for this moment for six years... since my attack which turned my life upside down”, begins this black man, from Martinique, in a packed room. The public came in large numbers, as well as supporters, such as the actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, already present the day before, and the former footballer Lilian Thuram.
“I see my attackers again today, it was not easy to watch the videos again,” continues Michel Zecler, in a serious voice. He refers to the images from the video surveillance camera installed in the airlock of his music studio, which allowed his beating to be filmed. In this room, Michel Zecler received nearly 30 punches, kicks and batons in just a few minutes. Just before his hearing, the raw video was played on the courtroom's big screen. Michel Zecler looked at her, then he went out for a few minutes, before coming back.
In these images, without sound, which follow one another like a bad silent film, we see the three accused appear in the airlock, one after the other. A first police officer, Aurélien Laperson, who pushes Michel Zecler, before brigadier Philippe Tondeux arrives, and finally the third police officer, Pierre Plantier. They try to get Michel Zecler out, who resists. Two first kicks are given. The three police officers stand on Michel Zecler, who ducks but resists.
“Thanks to the video, the false aspect of the report came to light”
When the music producer is pressed against the door, we see a headbutt from a police officer. “It’s not a technique,” confirms the police officer from the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), responsible during the investigation for cutting up the video surveillance images, and heard in this capacity at the hearing.
The blows to Michel Zecler's head with Philippe Plantier's telescopic defense baton were even less so, the IGPN police officers admitted in court on Tuesday. A police captain, interviewed in the morning, recalled: "We don't hit the head, the preferred areas are the chest and the lower limbs, that was not the case there. It's a metal object, if you hit hard on the head, there could be consequences."
This IGPN captain also points out that "the number of blows delivered should have been mentioned in the arrest report". However, the civil servants, judged for forgery of public documents, in addition to being judged for aggravated violence, also claimed, in their report, that Michel Zecler had hit them, contrary to what we see in the images. “This is a case in which, thanks to the video, the false aspect of the arrest report came to light,” recognizes the IGPN police captain.
A point that Michel Zecler insisted on when he spoke. “I realize that if I didn’t have the videos, I wouldn’t be here as a victim and I don’t want to imagine where I would be,” he emphasizes.
“I keep telling myself that if I didn’t have my videos, if they weren’t there, today I would be justifying myself for saying what I didn’t do.”
Michel Zecler, victim of police violence
at the hearing
“I am not afraid of these gentlemen, but I did not defend myself because they were wearing the uniform, I respected that,” explains Michel Zecler. “I tried to communicate with them to tell them that they were wrong, naively I believed that they had the wrong person,” he adds.
“They called me a ‘dirty nigger’”
While the investigating judges considered that "the incriminating evidence" was "insufficient to retain the racist dimension of this violence", Michel Zecler repeats that he was the subject of racist insults: "They called me a 'dirty nigger', they threatened me, they said they were going to kill me while hitting me." The music producer also talks about the consequences of the violence suffered, including craniofacial trauma, a scalp wound and a complete rupture of the tendon in his left arm.
“Today I still dream of these wounds, still today I see them hitting me, still today I sleep badly because of them.”
Michel Zecler, victim of police violence
at the hearing
The forty-year-old concludes his spontaneous declaration thus: "I have never liked the light, I love my job but since I met these people... They took away a lot of things from me and destroyed a lot of things, it seemed important to me to tell you Madam President. I probably still have a lot of things to tell you but I will answer your questions, it will be simpler."
“I no longer sleep or very little, I collapse from exhaustion”
Faced with Michel Zecler, the president of the court returned to the chronology of the facts. “Have you heard that word, ‘control’?” she asks. The producer responds in the negative. “My fault was not having a mask [for protection against Covid] that evening, while I had masks at the studio. All they told me was to go out, and it was out of the question for me to go out, he explains. I saw my camera and I told them, 'You are in a private place and you are being filmed'. "Even today, I ask myself the question 'why did they behave like that?'", continues Michel Zecler.
"I had the feeling that it was going to be worse outside than what they were doing to me. I thought they wanted to beat me up, kill me."
Michel Zecler
at the hearing
“Are you still a music producer?” an assessor then asks him. “Yes, but I have trouble concentrating, I rely a lot on the people around me,” breathes Michel Zecler. “Can you talk about this damage? The insomnia, the trauma, the reminiscences, the depression?” insists his lawyer, Caroline Toby, shortly after.
“It's hard for me to talk about it, and even more so in front of my attackers, I don't like the impression it gives, I don't sleep anymore or very little, I collapse from exhaustion,” replies Michel Zecler. In a strangled voice, overcome by emotion, he tries to elaborate: "My job requires going out, but I don't go out anymore. When I hear police sirens, in my body, things happen that I can't control."
Faced with his lawyer Serge Money, Michel Zecler repeats that he "experienced a double punishment" in this affair. He reports that after the events, "everyone recognized [him], everyone was shocked". Then he recalls, once again, "the importance of videos" in this affair: "To be honest, I am told this story, if I don't see a video, I'm not sure that I would have believed it, myself. And yet, it happened to me."
