Three French police officers face trial over the 2020 beating of music producer Michel Zecler, an assault captured on security cameras that triggered renewed outrage over police violence in France.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
Three French police officers are to stand trial over the 2020 beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler, in what sources describe as a rare police brutality case to reach court.
Police stopped Zecler outside his Paris studio on November 21, 2020, accusing him of failing to wear a mandatory face mask and suspecting him of cannabis use. They pushed him into the entrance of his office and beat him for around five minutes, landing around 30 punches and truncheon blows to his face and body, according to the investigation. The assault was recorded by the studio’s security cameras.
The medical report noted craniofacial trauma, a wound to the lip and scalp and a complete rupture of his biceps tendon, leaving him unable to work for 45 days. Zecler, who has a titanium anchor in his left arm and says he still suffers nightmares, said: "I don’t understand the hatred I saw in their eyes."
Officers Aurelien B., 29, Pierre P., 37, and Philippe T. face charges of intentional violence committed in a group, as well as forgery for trying to cover up their actions in an official report. They face up to 15 years in jail. Their lawyers declined to comment before the trial.
In their arrest report, the officers claimed the producer had hit them and tried to seize a truncheon, a version refuted by camera footage that French media website Loopsider released several days later. "If there hadn’t been cameras... their reports would have been enough to send me to prison," Zecler said.
France’s ombudswoman has said police used "racist insults" during the assault, according to four witnesses, but the accused officers denied this and the alleged racism was not included in the indictment. Zecler said they had used a racist slur against him. "I was insulted and I will repeat this at the hearing," he said.
Campaigners and rights groups saw the case as further evidence of what they describe as systemic racism in the French police. Authorities and police unions say police violence is limited to isolated cases.
Few alleged police brutality cases reach criminal court in France, as most are handled internally, and guilty verdicts are rare. In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries on a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017. A police officer is also to be tried over the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk at point-blank range outside Paris in June 2023, a case in which video footage also contradicted the police account and sparked nationwide protests.
According to a report last year by France’s rights chief, based on a survey of more than 5,000 people, young men "perceived as Arab, black or from North Africa" are four times more likely to be stopped than the rest of the population and 12 times more likely to face more severe measures, including being frisked.
The trial is one of the few cases of alleged police brutality in France to reach criminal court, and it comes amid renewed public attention on police conduct and racial profiling.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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