He claims to have only wanted to ask questions of Emmanuel Macron. But on April 7, the day of the presidential visit to La Courneuve, Mohamed Bekhtaoui slipped. He was tried on Tuesday for contempt and apology for terrorism at the Bobigny court.
April 2020. Mohamed Bekhtaoui, 37, is newly elected. This is his first term under the label of the UPR (Republican People’s Union), a sovereignist formation, and in this town hall headed by the Communist mayor Gilles Poux, who has just been re-elected in the first round, he is preparing to sit on the opposition benches.
Without mask or exit certificate
That Tuesday, La Courneuve pavoise: Emmanuel Macron is expected at the social action center (CCAS). Gilles Poux, crowned with his victory, is in a cloud. But we are in the midst of a Covid pandemic. Seine-Saint-Denis is one of the most heavily affected departments in France. However, everyone wants to talk to the President.
Mohamed Bekhtaoui is in the front row. He has questions for him, he assures us. Rather, the police think he came to cause a scandal. All excited, he forgot his mask and his exit certificate. He is quickly spotted by the police who know him for other reasons.
As he himself admits “he has a past” and has accumulated thefts, insults and conduct without a license. He has 21 mentions in his record. The commissioner of La Courneuve and his troops note that he is going out for the third time without the necessary authorization. A crime that justifies his custody.
In police custody, he urinates in his cell
So far so good. But at the police station, on the verification bench, before his placement in cell, “he twisted”, summarizes the deputy prosecutor. A chief brigadier reports the surprising remarks of the elected: “I will become the new Mohamed Merah. I was lucky to be around him, he opened my eyes. I’m going to cause carnage ”. Then he allegedly launched several “Allahu akbar” at the head of the policeman.
He repeats that this custody is “unfair”. “It’s a masquerade to prevent him from succeeding in politics,” he believes. He wanted “just to ask the president a question,” he would repeat in court.
At the police station, around 2 am, seized with a pressing desire, he bangs on the cell door. New scandal. He ends up urinating on the floor. He continues to fidget and allegedly tried to grab hold of the surveillance camera. “He is not very high on his legs and the camera is at 2.50 m,” notes Me Frédéric Beaufils.
“Psychological fragility”
His lawyer also sweeps aside the thesis of the defense of terrorism: “We are not in a public place, so it is not punishable”. He will win his case and will be relaxed on this point. The psychiatrist expert notes “a psychological fragility”. “He has a coherent speech but not adapted and no delusional words”.
