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FRANCE: Trial of Villiers-le-Bel, three rioters sentenced on appeal

The Assize Court of the Hauts-de-Seine, retrying the last three weeks the four gunmen suspected of rioting in Villiers-le-Bel in 2007, three of the defendants sentenced Friday to prison terms of 3 to 15 years in prison and an acquittal.

A fifth accused, who appeared to have provided weapons to the rioters, was also acquitted.

"Justice was done on one side but on the other side justice has not been made.They shout, they scream and they cry because there's always the other side our brothers who have taken very serious penalties, "said one of the acquitted Maka Kante, left open the court of Nanterre.

In the first trial in June 2010, the four alleged shooters aged 24-30 years were sentenced to sentences of 3-15 years in prison for opening fire on police during the two nights of riots of 25 and November 26, 2007 that followed the accidental death of two teenagers.

Some 90 police officers were then wounded by lead cartridge.

Pronounced in a packed house after more than nine hours of deliberation, the verdict was greeted with anger and confusion by the crowd waited patiently outside the courtroom under heavy police surveillance.

Claiming their innocence throughout the three weeks of debate, the two main defendants, brothers and Adama Kamara Abderhamane, were sentenced to between 12 and 15 years in prison, according to the requisitions of the prosecution which had blasted their willingness to "kill the police."

"For the victims I was defending the goal is met.The two leaders go to jail tonight and here justice is gone, "said Mr. Laurent-Franck Lienard, a lawyer for police officers.

Former mediator Villiers, Adama Kamara was provided during the debate "trying to calm the young" in the evening the fighting while the Crown had made him the "leader of the riots."

At his side in the dock, his brother Abderhamane, presented by the prosecution as "the shooter the most determined and most effective" was found not to "love the police" but denied that he opened fire.

"I'm not crazy, I know the penalties," he was released, bringing the charges against him on account of "rumors" of the city.

During the three weeks of hearings, this thesis was developed at length by the defense who had denounced an investigation "sloppy" hoping to take advantage of mass defections recorded by the prosecution.

None of the four witnesses who had anonymously questioned the accused during the investigation was filed in court, forcing the president to read their statements.

A key prosecution witness, who was to testify openly, also in the lurch despite a warrant issued against him.

"I'm not happy because we would like that kind of justice is not for cities," said one of the defense attorneys Patrick Arapian me, referring to anonymous witnesses. "There is no justice for the poor and the rich."

Despite the ruling of Appeal, Justice has not yet finished with the events of Villiers-le-Bel.

After a long investigation, the police officer who was driving the car collided with the two teenagers was returned in September before the criminal court for manslaughter.

Investigation for false testimony to police officers who accompanied him in the car is also ongoing at Pontoise.