Far-Right Activists Cleared in France-Morocco Match Violence Case as Appeal Collapses

On Friday, the public prosecutor’s office withdrew its appeal to open the trial on appeal, in the absence of the defendants, on the grounds that "the checks that led to the procedure did not meet the legal conditions and that consequently, the entire procedure was tainted with nullity." It has thus just closed the proceedings.

The procedure had been canceled at first instance due to irregularities in September 2023. The Paris Criminal Court had justified its decision by the fact that the arrests of the defendants in a bar in the 17th arrondissement of Paris on the evening of the France-Morocco match were not within the perimeter of action assigned to the police that evening. A few days before these arrests, the police had spotted calls to gather in this bar on the encrypted messaging service Telegram from close to the identitarian right. Of the 38 people arrested, only seven had ultimately been referred to the criminal court. They were suspected of wanting to go to the Champs-Élysées to confront Morocco’s supporters.

The court’s decision allowed the seven far-right activists - including the former leader of the far-right group "Zouaves Paris" Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier - to regain their freedom. In early 2025, Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier was sentenced to nine months in prison, which could be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, for violence against SOS Racisme activists during an Éric Zemmour campaign meeting in 2021. In January 2022, he had been sentenced to one year in prison, which could be served under electronic bracelet, for group violence during an expedition to an anti-fascist bar in Paris.