Two soldiers aged 19 and 21 were sentenced Monday in Strasbourg to two years in prison, one of which was closed but without a committal warrant, for the “rarely violent” attack on a homosexual person whom they beat. blows.
The two men, newly recruited to the 152nd infantry regiment of Colmar and who faced 10 years in prison, appeared detained. The court, which tried them in immediate appearance, was more lenient than the public prosecutor, who had requested three years in prison, including two years.
The representative of the prosecution, Éric Haeffele, denounced “an attack of rare violence” and “totally gratuitous”, driven “by an assumed homophobia” and “uninhibited”.
“A savage” and “barbaric” attack
Alexis Coutelle, 19, and Temoana Teautoua, 21, were prosecuted for violence against the victim, a 28-year-old man, but only the first was prosecuted for the homophobic insults. The second was prosecuted for the violent theft of the victim’s bag which contained money and two mobile phones.
The attack took place before dawn on Saturday between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the center of Strasbourg. After having a disagreement with two people, the two soldiers, who were finishing a drunken evening – Alexis Coutelle had a blood alcohol level of 1.60 g – beat the victim, who was not involved in the first brawl. Alexis Coutelle notably showered the victim with homophobic insults, while insisting on his “military” status, according to testimonies.
The victim, present at the hearing, suffered in particular from head trauma, a pierced eardrum and loose teeth. The man was prescribed a 10-day ITT. “A savage” and “barbaric” attack whose “odious character” is “amplified by the profession of the defendants”, estimated his counsel, Clarisse de Bailliencourt.
Defendant said he “never (had) liked homosexuals”
In the glass box, dressed in identical gray sweatshirts, hands clasped behind their backs, the two young soldiers admitted the facts and apologized to their victim. The court also imposed on them an obligation “to treat as quickly as possible” their “impulsiveness”, according to President Marc Picard. They are not allowed to contact the victim or appear in Strasbourg for three years. They are also prohibited from possessing a weapon for 5 years.
“I want to apologize (…) I won’t do it again,” stammered Temoana Teautoua, who had been the subject of criminal charges for violence and degradation in the past. In police custody, the man who was also on trial for having held a brass knuckle at the time of the facts, declared that he “never (had) liked homosexuals” and that he was “even more angry” when he suspected that the victim was.
He also explained that during his education in Polynesia he had heard negative things about “homosexuals” and “Arabs”, the victim also being of North African origin.
Alexis Coutelle, also tried for having had a switchblade knife on him, said during his custody that he had acted according to “the soldier’s code of honor”. At the hearing, he spoke of the racist and homophobic education provided by his father and assured that he did not want to “be like him”.
Their lawyers had asked for sentences less severe than the requisitions, Alexis Coutelle’s counsel, Me David Lefèvre, painting the portrait of a young person “not yet completely constituted” and for whom a balanced sentence would constitute “a warning shot allowing him to get back on the right path.”
