three years in prison, two of which are suspended, for one of the perpetrators of the court fire in Ajaccio

Kamal Amakrane was sentenced this Wednesday, December 11 by the Marseille criminal court to 3 years in prison, 2 of which were suspended, for having participated in the fire at the Ajaccio courthouse. These facts took place on the sidelines of demonstrations in support of Yvan Colonna in March 2022.

“I was picked up for a beam in a construction site, I put it in the fire, I didn’t know what I was doing, I’m not a nationalist“, defends Kamal Amakrane, on the stand. The one who was 21 years old at the time of the events adds: “If I took to the streets, it was because I saw that there was a demonstration on social networks“.

Kamal Amakrane is now 24 years old and is a night watchman in a hotel during the season. This is also what he replied to the president when she asked him what he was doing in front of the courthouse in Ajaccio that evening in March 2022.

On March 9, 2022, during a demonstration after the fatal attack on Yvan Colonna in Arles prison, the gates of the Ajaccio courthouse are forced open. A fire breaks the entrance doors, the fire devastates the ground floor of the courthouse.

“600,000 euros in damage and a serious attack on justice”underlines the prosecutor, during this trial.

Kamal Amakrane’s DNA was found at the scene and CCTV footage identified him. “He provided significant support to the protesters“, adds the prosecutor, who requested a sentence of 3 years in prison with a deferred committal warrant.

“It is an isolated act, where there is no organized gang. There is ultimately a reclassification in this matter. When he was released, the prosecution did not oppose his request for release. There, surprisingly, invoking ‘Saint George and the dragon’, we ask for imprisonment sentences. It’s absurd and it’s sitting on a file“, responded Maître Philippe Gatti, the defendant’s lawyer.

The court sentenced Kamel Amakrane to a prison sentence of 3 years, including two years suspended, after 4 months already served in prison. He therefore has a sentence of eight months remaining which will be placed under an electronic bracelet.

See the full report by Marie-Françoise Stefani and Stéphane Lapera: