[Onthebarricades] FRANCE: Vindictive sentencing over banlieue unrest

[Andy]

NOTE:  This is a very sinister precedent - sentences of this kind for mass unrest are almost unknown in France, and it is no surprise the accused were "stunned" at the sentences, particularly given their age.  Admittedly the case is unusual because someone was actually injured, but this could be the beginning of a lurch towards vindictive sentencing on a similar scale to neoliberal societies, as France prepares to embark on the neoliberal path - a path which will require the decimation of the country's vibrant social movements and spirit of resistance.  This is very shocking and disappointing.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=44422

French teens jailed for riot bus attack
29 September 2007

MARSEILLE (AFP) - A French court on Friday ordered two teenagers jailed for eight years for an arson attack on a bus which left a young French-Senegalese woman horrifically burned.

The youths, aged 15 and 16, were among a gang who firebombed a bus in the southern city of Marseille during a brief flare-up of violence coinciding with the first anniversary of the 2005 riots in poor French suburbs.

One passenger, Mama Galledou, a 26-year-old university student of Senegalese origin, was trapped inside the bus and suffered burns to two thirds of her body.

Both teenagers appeared stunned as the judge read out the sentence at the end of the high profile trial.

They had denied any intention to cause harm, saying they wanted to attract the attention of media covering the anniversary of the riots.

Six other minors suspected of taking part in the attack are to stand trial in December.

AFP
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