Four far-right sympathizers appear before the Loire-Atlantique Assize Court from this Monday, March 21 for a violent attack perpetrated in Nantes on the evening of the second round of the presidential election, May 7, 2017. They are accused of having, that evening, molested Erwan David and Steven Dardenne, 18 years old and 16 years old at the time of the events, with kicks, iron bars and glass bottles.
The trial of the four men who had savagely assaulted two teenagers on May 7, 2017 on the evening of the election to the presidency of the Republic of Emmanuel Macron began this Monday, March 21 at the Assises de Loire-Atlantique. There were five of them on the evening of the tragedy, one of them has since died in a road accident. Ione of the two victims has permanent scars.
This first day of the trial is devoted to the presentation of each of the accused. IThe trial resumed around 2:30 p.m. with the examination of the personality of Joyce Burkhart, who will answer questions from the president.
“I am neither a leader nor a holder of authority despite my former responsibilities within the local GUD” he said in a letter accompanying his request for release.
According to him, his comrades took the initiative of the aggression. He himself says he did not strike. Joyce Burkhart appears free, under judicial supervision. Since his release from detention, he has carried out a few temporary assignments.
Today, the defendant says he has ceased all his militant activities and has distanced himself from the movement to which he was close. His children and the psychotherapy undertaken within the framework of the judicial review led him to reconsider his relationship to the world.
At the prison, his fellow prisoners nicknamed him “the Viking”. In prison, he asks to work to help his partner meet the needs of the family, does bodybuilding, and begins the psychological follow-up which he will continue as a liberal on his release.
Joyce Burkhart has since married the mother of her children, and works in the construction industry, with the promise of permanent employment. At the bar, he says to himself “appeased“. If he has moved away from active militancy, he remains close to “certain far-right ideas”.
His mother has now resumed contact with his father who left before he was born, because “he wasn’t ready“. Joyce Burkhart did not want to meet this father he never knew.
In a childhood marked by many moves, he will have two successive stepfathers, with whom “it’s not going well.”
“- Have you been subjected to violence, ill-treatment ?” asks the President.
– I have to dwell on it ?” replies the defendant.
Then, evasively, he evokes regular physical violence, of which his mother could also be a victim.
As for his professional life:I have always worked. Since I was 16, I have been working.” After a CAP in the field of viticulture, Joyce Burkhart arrives in Brittany to follow her partner at the time and follows, in Rennes, training in masonry.
In November 2015, he wanted to send back a projectile during a demonstration organized by an “extreme left” Breton group and he had part of a finger amputated on his right hand.
The defendant acknowledges being able to be violent: “Under the influence of alcohol, or if I am attacked, I answer“. But according to him, violence can be considered acceptable, depending on the circumstances.
He practices bodybuilding, crossfit and mixed martial arts, and calls himself paganism: “It is an attachment to the land and to nature. Understand that we are part of it all” “I am aware of belonging to a people, a culture, a civilization and I am proud of it. I am against capital and against a form of globalism that is imposed on us.”
His beliefs, he says, have evolved into something more personal and distanced.
His criminal record bears traces of three convictions:
- August 21, 2012, two months suspended prison sentence following a check near the Ajaccio stadium when he was banned from the stadium following overflows.
- August 29, 2012, he was given a three-month suspended sentence for violence with threats and use of a weapon that did not result in an ITT of more than 8 days. The weapon in question? A knuckle duster.
- April 11, 2013, in Barcelona, he is also sentenced for assault to 8 months suspended. “On the sidelines of a Barcelona-Paris football match, going down the ramblas, there was a skirmish with the Spanish police.”
“- How do you view the entries on your criminal record today? asks the President.
– Stupid… it doesn’t lead to anything”, he replies.
Joyce Burkhart is nicknamed in prison the “good torch viking”. He explains his nickname:It’s because I’m not a racist, not a primal racist. With the people of France and North Africa, things were going very well.”
“I’m not on the right, I can’t be extreme, nor on the right“explains the defendant questioned by one of the lawyers for the civil parties. In 2012, he was a candidate as a substitute in the European elections on the lists of Génération Identitaire.
As for his skinhead background: “Basically, the skinhead movement is a musical movement. I’m a fan of ska, punk, metal.“
For the GUD, whose group he led in Brittany, he admits having organized meetings and debates.
On his stadium ban:It followed an altercation in Brest with a supporter, as can happen quite often.” On the origin of the fight which earned him a conviction in Rennes: “It was a heated exchange with a person from the far left“. Erwan D’s lawyer points to the fact that this altercation took place on the evening of the first round of the 2012 presidential election.
Steven D.’s lawyer asks him why he was moving with brass knuckles. “I was afraid of being assaulted. At that time, it was recurrent to come across people who…”
Today, Joyce Burkhart says she no longer walks around with weapons. On the evening of the events, in May 2017, he however admitted having had an iron bar in his car “to hold the trunk… But there was no other weapon.“
In the middle of the afternoon, the President begins the personality examination of François Mamès Cosseron de Villenoisy. Rather slender young man, shirt, gray sweater, very short hair, almost shaved. “I have nothing more to do with the far right” he said during the investigation.
The oldest, Joyce Burkhart, born of an unknown father, grew up in a blended family, marked by far-right values.
This Monday morning, Joyce Burkhart declares having carried no blow, and denies having been the leader of the group of aggressors. The other defendants acknowledge the acts of violence committed that night. Premeditation is disputed.
He claims a pagan philosophy, close to the earth, nature and the environment. His companion, mother of his two children, describes him as a good father, very invested.
François Mandès Cosseron de Villenoy, one of the 4 other suspects, was also raised by his mother after his parents separated when he was 3 years old.
The young man resented the way of life of his father, transgender, whose alcohol consumption was described as problematic. The son cut ties with his parent and built himself up in reaction.
He wanted to build an image of a strong man. At the time of the Manif pour tous, he joined royalist movements such as Action Française, then Renouveau Français.
When the latter was dissolved, he joined the GUD and took part in demonstrations, sometimes violent, which gave him a feeling of power and a rush of adrenaline, explains the personality investigator.
The 3rd suspect, Antoine Desbas, would have been marked by the divorce of his parents, and a father whom he describes as unloving and capable of violence with the personality investigator.
His parents observe a change in behavior and dating from his entry into the military school of Prytanée in Sarthe. Later, he left college, because he no longer supported “the leftist side”.
It was during this period that he joined the GUD. Antoine Desbas describes himself as patriotic with nationalist tendencies. He is described as hot-tempered, stubborn, with low self-esteem. For the future, he planned, among other things, to join the foreign legion, or to become a mason.
The 4th suspect, Matthieu Gaultier De La Richerie comes from a united family. His mother, a housewife, his father, key account director for Airbus in Paris.
Describing himself as a practicing Catholic and a traditionalist, Matthieu Gaultier de la Richerie won the gold medal in the national competition for best apprentice in France, electrical engineering category. He participated in a few GUD events, where he said he sought friendly relations, and where he enjoyed discussions with people he found cultured.
Passionate about sport, Matthieu Gaultier de la Richerie had to stop all physical practice because of Lyme disease which caused him heart and joint problems…
The penalty incurred can go up to 15 years in prison, due to the aggravating circumstances of acts committed in a meeting, with the use of a weapon and premeditation or ambush. In the case of Joyce Burkhart, there is also the state of recidivism, which can double the maximum sentences.
Nantes, the night of May 7 to 8, 2017. Emmanuel Macron has just been elected. Wrongly taken for “antifas”, two young boys are beaten up by a group of 5 men at a tram stop, one of the victims will have permanent scars.
The two victims are returning from downtown Nantes, where they participated in a demonstration against the far right. At the Du Chaffault stop, they see a hooded group emerge from behind the bushes.
Erwan D., 18, is sprayed with tear gas, then the deluge of blows begins, and will only be interrupted by the arrival of a motorist, who will turn around to rescue the two victims.
In the emergency room, Steven D., 16, suffers from bruises, he has a wound on his scalp, complains of diffuse pain… Erwan D., he is in a coma. Fracture of the nose, fracture of the back of the skull, multiple contusions, brain damage.
It is the latter’s mother who will take pieces of glass from the scene of the attack, while her son is in intensive care. The DNA of one of the suspects will be found on this debris.
One of the suspects will declare to the investigators to have been attacked in the evening by about fifty antifas, among whom he says to have recognized the two victims. Erwan and Steven did not claim to belong to any movement.
During the searches, the police found a telescopic baton, brass knuckles, and GUD leaflets in several of the suspects.
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