A climate “mass hysteria” : this is how Anne Nappez, president of the court of Carcassonne (Aude), describes the events that took place on July 24, 2022 in Verzeille (488 inhabitants), a corner of the countryside wedged between Limoux and Carcassonne. The judge wonders out loud: “How did it come to this?” That evening, in Verzeille, there was laughter, drinking, dancing, and the scent of summer excitement. Rugby players and footballers from the village and surrounding area were crowding around the refreshment bar. The only false note on the board: persistent rumours of “savage injections” were invited into the conversations. It was said that young girls had been victims of malicious syringes. Let us recall that at the time, such cases, real or supposed, were widely publicised.
But from 11 p.m. onwards, the rumour turned to fear. In the space of one to two hours, three people fell ill. The firefighters came, then left, then came back. One of them, called twice to the scene, told the police: “The witnesses all spoke of injections […] We did not observe any entry points on any victim.” In fact, this case will remain free of any trace of a syringe. Nevertheless, that evening, fear turns to psychosis with this announcement made over the microphone by the DJ: “Be careful, it stings!”
“We didn’t steal anything, we just arrived”
Meanwhile, around midnight, Hans Nomertin, a 24-year-old from Guadeloupe who lives nearby, arrives at the Verzeille party with a few friends. They are soon joined by four friends from Mayotte. The «noirs», as they are described, do not go unnoticed. And events follow one another quickly, especially since a young man is busy fanning the flames: Kevin E., 21 at the time.
Funny profile, this Kevin E.. A simple participant in the party, he quickly becomes in everyone’s eyes «the vigilant». He called the emergency services several times, pretending to be a police officer from the surveillance and intervention platoon (PSIG) when he was actually a security guard at the Saint-Gaudens court. On the phone, he said he was “100% safe” that these are indeed injections and fuels psychosis among the party-goers. In his car trunk, he carries a “tactical vest” which he quickly puts on and grabs a tear gas canister, his “gas canister”. “I thought he was really from the PSIG. He was the one who told us that night that it was the blacks who were doing the stealing,” “This is what happened,” said Ludovic B., 48, a civil servant, second deputy mayor of Verzeille and vice-president of the festival committee, one of the three defendants being prosecuted for group violence.
“It’s the blacks.” The sentence spreads in a smell of gunpowder. Around 1 a.m., two young racialized men are accosted by Kévin E., accompanied by other men from the party. They are asked to empty their pockets, they are searched, they are told to get on the ground. Nelson, 44, was present that evening. This witness remembers that while these young people are being criticized “to have stung”, They believe they are accused of theft and retort: “We didn’t steal anything, we just arrived!” Then Nelson tells “the lynching”, intervened after the thorough search and gassing of the blacks while the «blanc» who accompanied them was not worried.
“Kill him!”
Indeed, while Hans Nomertin and his friend Mourad go to get cigarettes in their car, two men come to ask them for an explanation: Ludovic B., the deputy mayor, and Yannis A., son of the president of the festival committee, 20 years old at the time. “explanations” quickly turn sour. Kevin arrives in turn and gasses everyone.
Mourad, who did not file a complaint, will say that he was kicked, punched, and kneed. Hans, for his part, tries to flee. His eyes burning, he hits a bench and falls into a ditch. There, the blows rain down. Part of his beating is filmed. by an anonymous person; 28 seconds that make you feel sick. Present at the hearing, Hans’ mother discreetly leaves the room so as not to see this video. We see Ludovic B. and Yannis A. attacking this man on the ground. Around him, voices shout: “fuck him guys!” “Come on guys!”, “Pick him up, we’re going to fuck him!”, “kill him!”. How many participants in this party hit, encouraged, incited the lynching? About thirty, as some claim? We don’t know. “Many witnesses have recanted,” regrets Samuel Thomas, president of the Maison des potes, an association which has filed a civil suit (as has SOS Racisme).
“I’m trying to rebuild myself”
At the bar, Ludovic B. and Yannis A. are forced to recognize each other on the images broadcast at the hearing. But both claim that the first blows were struck by Hans and Mourad. A version supported by Kévin E., but undermined by the president, who points out that the medical examiner did not find any hematoma on the two attackers. On the other hand, 6 days of ITT were prescribed to Hans and three days to Mourad. Why did they go after Hans? “We were afraid he was armed,” replies Ludovic B., who has kept his position as deputy mayor of Verzeille. Both deny any racist dimension to their actions, Yannis specifying that his father is of Moroccan origin. The same goes for Kévin E.: this big guy, with a crew cut and shaved head on the sides, assures “we don’t care about skin color.”
For Samuel Thomas, the racist dimension of the case is beyond doubt. But the president wonders: why did the victims and witnesses not mention a racist motive in their testimony? Hans, wearing a white polo shirt and trousers and a neatly trimmed beard, calmly explains that it was «clair» for him, that he had “immediately” this feeling. “At the time, he continues, I was a delivery man and I had to take an exam that was important to me. Because of all that, I didn’t have the strength to take it, and I couldn’t work for a year. Since then, I’ve been trying to rebuild myself, I’ve gone back to my job as a delivery man.” But, he confides to Release, “I ask to avoid the Verzeille area.” The prosecutor is requesting an eighteen-month suspended prison sentence for Kévin E., a ban on owning a weapon and a citizenship course. A twelve-month suspended prison sentence has been requested for Ludovic B., a ban on owning a weapon and holding public office for one year. The prosecution is requesting seventy-five hours of community service for Yannis A. and, for him too, a ban on owning a weapon and a citizenship course. The court’s decision, which is under advisement, will be delivered on 13 November.
