The Nice prosecutor on Friday sought 12 to 18 months suspended prison sentences and a permanent ban from duty against five police officers accused of violence and discrimination toward two Tunisian drug traffickers. The incident, on July 22, 2025, in the Moulins neighborhood, was revealed by an audio recording. The court has deferred its judgment to November 10.
Five police officers aged 30 to 48, including one with thirty years of service, are on trial for acts during the arrest of two Tunisian drug traffickers on July 22, 2025, in the priority Moulins neighborhood in Nice. After the arrest, during the van ride to the commissariat, the officers allegedly multiplied «insults, mockery, violence, small and large humiliations toward an individual because of his religion or origin», highlighted prosecutor Damien Martinelli.
The facts were captured by a discreet recording made by one of the arrestees with his phone. At the heart of the accusations: a Quran found in one trafficker's bag, used to humiliate him. According to the prosecution, the police tore out pages to make balls and stuff them in his mouth. The audio played at the hearing reveals cries, sobs, sounds of blows, and racist insults from one officer.
In their defense, the defendants denied the violence while partially admitting the insults. They claim it was not a real Quran but a document found that morning in a trash bin, used in a «delirium» for a «bad joke» to «bother» the individual. One trafficker, present at the hearing, is serving 18 months in prison for aggravated theft and a 10-year territory ban. The other, absent and not a civil party, did not participate in the trial.
«They are good officers without judicial or disciplinary records but do you still trust them, do you want to see them back on the public streets?», questioned the prosecutor to justify his desire to remove them from the national police. Lawyer Éric Borghini, representing one defendant, retorted: «These requisitions are hallucinatory, you requested the death penalty, civil death maybe but death penalty anyway», regretting that a «drug trafficker under OQTF» is «better treated than national police officers».