The prosecution requested a 30,000 euro fine, including 20,000 suspended, for comments made during a press conference a year ago. He declared: “They are no more stupid than North Africans”.
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This sentence was strongly condemned by the civil parties present at the trial. “It’s a hierarchy, a stigmatization of an ethnic group,” declared Bernard Schmid, MRAP’s lawyer. “A racist cliché,” added Guillaume Traynard, the defender of SOS Racisme. For Damien Gevaudan, Licra lawyer, “Bernard Casoni is looked at, listened to, with his track record, his authority”. The prosecution also requested that the judgment be displayed within the US Orléans club for two months and published in the press.
Bernard Casoni’s lawyer, Emmanuel Daoud, denounced “a trial for example”. He argued that his client “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”. The judgment has been reserved and will be delivered on January 9.
