30,000 euros fine required, including 20,000 suspended, against ex-US Orléans coach Bernard Casoni for public racist insult

Bernard Casoni was tried on Thursday before the Orléans judicial court for public insult of a racist nature.

30,000 euros fine was required, including 20,000 euros suspended against Bernard Casoni, the former coach of US Orléans, tried on Thursday, November 14, for public insult of a racist nature, reports France Bleu Orléans .

A year ago, France Bleu Orléans revealed the comments made by the man who was still the coach of US Orléans (currently in the National) during a press conference. Bernard Casoni then declared: “They are no more stupid than North Africans.”

In addition to the fine, the prosecution also demands the display of the judgment within the US Orléans club for two months and its publicity in the press. The judgment has been reserved and will be delivered on January 9. The former USO coach, currently a bench coach at a club in Ivory Coast, was absent for his trial.

For all the civil parties, the racist nature of these remarks is beyond doubt: “It’s a hierarchy, a stigmatization of an ethnic group”indicates Bernard Schmid, the lawyer for MRAP (the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples). “A racist cliché”, adds Guillaume Traynard, the defender of SOS Racisme. “Bernard Casoni is watched, listened to, with his track record, his authority”, underlines Damien Gevaudan, lawyer for Licra.

Emmanuel Daoud, Bernard Casoni’s lawyer, denounces “a trial for example”. According to him, “Bernard Casoni did not inferiorize the Maghreb, he only referred to his previous experience and the last five seasons spent in the Maghreb before arriving in Orléans.”