Nîmes: A Moroccan man, handcuffed, attempts to flee the police before his deportation - eight months in prison

"I didn’t want to go back to Morocco." These are the words the defendant used to explain his attempted escape, which took place on November 13 in the parking lot of the Nîmes police station. He was subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF). While three police officers were escorting him to the airport, the man, handcuffed behind his back, tried to flee, reports Midi Libre. He violently struck one of the police officers. He then went through the gate before ending up on a parked car, just a few meters from the police station. Arrested, he was taken back to the police station.

Fabien Chenevier, who presided over the hearing, tried to understand his act, especially why he dove head first, cracking the windshield. The driver filed a complaint and joined the case as a civil party. "I wanted to commit suicide, I have too many problems in Morocco," the defendant retorted. According to him, he is notably the target of a mafia system in Morocco. "One could think that I was fleeing the police, but it was my past that I was fleeing. If you send me back there, I will commit suicide," he threatened again, having arrived in France a year ago. He explains that he has applied for a visa to join Slovenia.

This discourse is different from what he told the police during his custody. He claimed not to know where they were taking him, and that this is what caused his panic. "During my three days of detention, I asked for a lawyer and an interpreter," he says. His lawyer, Lauriane Dillenseger, defends him. "He may have signed the OQTF notification, but he may not have necessarily understood it," she assures. She pleads for her client’s full acquittal. Insufficient to convince prosecutor Charlotte Cerna. She recalls the defendant’s "bad faith" after the collision with the car. "He even goes so far as to pretend during his hospitalization, by simulating consciousness disorders," she specified.

The prosecutor requested eight months in prison, continued detention, and a ten-year ban from French territory. The court followed these requisitions. The young Moroccan man was sent back to prison.