All that for that, one might say. Dozens of hearings, two investigating judges, police custody, arrests, thousands of press articles, years of investigation… And the release. This Monday, October 14, the Rennes Criminal Court acquitted the six men tried this Monday for having participated in the organization of the Lieuron rave party. A little surprise as the organizers had been presented as enemies of the nation at the time of the events.
Most of them had until then always preferred to remain silent, refusing to answer the president of the court’s questions. But when the debates closed, some wanted to speak. Accused of having participated in the organization of the rave on the night of December 31, 2020 to January 1, 2021, six men were tried before the Rennes criminal court. Three and a half years after this party organized in the middle of a pandemic when France was under curfew and gatherings were prohibited, the pressure had completely subsided. In courtroom number 101 of the judicial precinct, we even heard laughter both during the lawyers’ pleadings and when the president mentioned the name of a collective of partygoers called “On s’en balek”.
Clashes with the police
At the time of the events, however, it was a large part of France and even the world which was outraged by this party called “Maskarade” organized in the warehouses of a former transport company in Lieuron, south of Rennes ( Ille-et-Vilaine). Two thousand to 2,500 people took part in the party, the scene of severe clashes with the police. A police vehicle was set on fire and the subject was invited to Gérald Darmanin’s New Year’s Eve party. Clearly, the Minister of the Interior is not “balek” about it. The politicians dismantle the young participants in the event and the affair takes on disproportionate proportions.
Faced with Covid-19, of which we are experiencing successive waves, we fear a giant cluster. It won’t happen. Three and a half years after the events, only six men were summoned. “The real organizers are not in the dock today. Or you consider that a simple gesture of help makes you an organizer. But then you should have hundreds or even thousands of people on your benches,” argued Nicolas Prigent, who defends one of the six men.
“On TV, it was only about me”
They are all friends in life, even exchanging a bottle of water during the debates. All admit to being involved in the party scene but all deny being at the origin of the famous Maskarade. Having remained silent for a long time, they finally blurted out a few words, which they had undoubtedly been mulling over for almost four years. “I think this affair is totally grotesque. I went to prison for twenty days. When I arrived at the prison, the TV was on and it was all about me. It’s disproportionate. The police came in my truck with a helicopter. There were 45 of them, they were armed. I felt like Pablo Escobar,” said Erwan (first names have been changed) at the conclusion of a day of hearing.
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Immediately, his friend Nicolas did the same. He complains of having seen all his equipment seized since 2021, depriving him of his passion. “We seized everything I had at home. We seized a collection of 250 to 300 vinyl records. Since then, I have nothing.” His lawyer, Olivier Pacheu, had already dismissed these seizures, considering them disproportionate. “We seized a circular saw and a drill from him. What is the link between a circular saw and the organization of a festive gathering? “.
The prosecutor was not heard
The five defense lawyers had pleaded for acquittal, believing that their clients were not those they wanted to believe. The public prosecutor had tried to plead by recalling the “tens of thousands of deaths” caused by Covid-19. And considering that the six defendants had acted “out of pure selfishness”. He was not heard. It was even disowned.
