Paris (France) (AFP) – The trial of three police officers accused of beating black music producer Michel Zecler in November 2020, whose filmed attack caused a shock and relaunched the debate on police violence in France, opened Monday before the Paris criminal court.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 12:54

The hearing began in a chaotic atmosphere, due to the impossibility for all of Michel Zecler's supporters to enter the courtroom, which was too small. Among them, the rapper Stomy Bugsy, the actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, the singer Princess Erika.

“This trial was important to us, and there is no room,” the latter was indignant.

“We have the impression that our words do not count. Even when we suffer attacks, attacks from the police, we cannot even come and support our guy. I find that it is a tragedy of French society which still minimizes the words of black people,” denounced Jean-Pascal Zadi.

A broadcast room was planned, but several dozen people still hoped to enter the main one.

Michel Zecler, aged 47, wearing a navy suit and white shirt, entered the room after the three accused, Aurélien Laperson, Pierre Plantier and Philippe Tondeux, suspended from the police since the events, gave their identity.

They are accused of willful violence in a meeting and forgery of public documents by a person holding public authority, and face 15 years of imprisonment. A fourth police officer must be tried in criminal court.

“Discreet, appreciated”

The first witness heard, the personality investigator for Pierre Plantier, who met him in March 2026, spoke of a police officer described by his colleagues and his private entourage as “calm”, “discreet” and appreciated.

Within the Territorial Contact Brigade (BTC) of the 17th arrondissement, where the attack took place, "he is described as someone who does not have the soul of a leader, executes orders perfectly, has very good ratings from his hierarchy", says the investigator. “He knows how to defuse conflicts” within his team as well as with the residents of the 17th arrondissement, according to colleagues cited by the investigator.

Suspended with continued pay since the attack, the 37-year-old police officer, who is also a reservist firefighter, is the father of a six-year-old girl.

Trimmed beard and mustache, light sweatshirt, the police officer, who had completed a professional baccalaureate in catering, explains at the stand that he reoriented himself towards the police because it is a profession that he “idealized”.

"Racism"

On November 21, 2020, while France was in the midst of the Covid health crisis, Michel Zecler was arrested by a police patrol in front of his Parisian music studio for not wearing a mask and suspicion of cannabis consumption.

Pushed by the police inside the narrow airlock of the entrance to his premises, the producer then suffered a very violent beating, "an avalanche of blows" recorded by the studio's surveillance camera.

Michel Zecler will have suffered a total work interruption (ITT) of 45 days, notably for a total tear of the left biceps tendon.

Revealed by the Loopsider site six days after the events, the video surveillance images created a shock - President Emmanuel Macron spoke of "shame" - and invalidated the police officers' version. Their arrest report indicated that the producer had hit them and tried to grab their baton.

“If there had not been cameras... their reports would have been enough to send me to prison, and for a long time,” laments Michel Zecler, who remains very marked by his attack six years later.

The case had relaunched the debate on violence and racism in the police, considered systemic by victims and researchers, but relating to isolated acts according to the institution and police unions.

The police have always denied any racist dimension.

Michel Zecler claims that he was treated as a “dirty nigger” during his beating. The courts, without calling into question its sincerity, considered that it did not have sufficient evidence to uphold the qualification of racism.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.