The lawyers representing the eight defendants submitted self-defence and acquittal pleas on Thursday's session of the ongoing trial concerning a brawl. The altercation took place in front of a night club on Valentine's Day in 2016. The fight involved three police officers and former as well as current soldiers.
On Wednesday, the defendants stuck to their various versions of the events. The police officers maintained they had been assaulted in the first phase of the fight whereas the soldiers claimed they were attacked in the second phase of the fight. On Thursday, the lawyer of one police officer in particular, Rosario Grasso, expressed his fury at the investigation.
Grasso maintained that the police inquiry occurred at the expense of the police officers, accusing the police general inspectorate and the public prosecutor of acting unfairly and in a biased manner. Grasso argued that the police officers had behaved correctly in the fight.
Olivier Unsen, representing one of the other police officers, questioned the veracity of the other defendants' testimony on the brawl. He claimed the officers had not sought out a fight as they were outnumbered. The lawyer representing the third police officer, Philippe Penning, highlighted that his client was described as the most uninvolved party of the fight, and did not punch any of the other defendants. He sustained injuries all the same.
The lawyer representing one of the other defendants accused the police officers' lawyers of downplaying the incident, stressing the enormous amount of violence involved in the brawl. The final four defendants, representing themselves, requested that the court acquit them as they had acted out of self-defence.
The trial is due to end on Friday with the prosecutor's recommendations.
Eight individuals tried for assault and battery after Valentine's Day brawl
A fight between police and soldiers ends in court
