French police officers face up to 15 years over 2020 beating

Three French police officers went on trial Monday over the 2020 beating of music producer Michel Zecler, who was stopped over an alleged face-mask breach, The Guardian reported Nov. 9.

The case is unusual because most alleged police-brutality cases in France are handled internally; the Guardian news report said the officers face charges carrying up to 15 years in prison.

Zecler, now 47, told Agence France-Presse in a recent interview: “I expect this trial to hold the police officers accountable.”

Police stopped Zecler outside his Paris studio on Nov. 21, 2020, accusing him of not wearing a mandatory Covid-era mask and suspecting cannabis use, according to the report. Security-camera footage from the studio recorded the assault.

Aurelien B, now 29, Pierre P, 37, and Philippe T are charged with intentional violence committed in a group and forgery linked to an official report, The Guardian reported. Their lawyers declined to comment before the trial.

The investigation found Zecler received about 30 punches and truncheon blows to his face and body over five minutes, according to the report. A medical report recorded craniofacial trauma, injuries to his lip and scalp, and a complete biceps tendon rupture that left him unable to work for 45 days.

The case drew national attention after French media website Loopsider released the footage days after the incident. In their arrest report, the officers had said Zecler hit them and tried to take a truncheon, a version the footage contradicted, according to The Guardian.

Allegations of racism remain disputed in the court case.

Zecler said the officers used a racist slur. “I was insulted and I will repeat this at the hearing,” he said. Campaigners and rights groups have cited the case as evidence of what they describe as systemic racism in French policing, while authorities and police unions say abuse is confined to isolated cases.

The trial opens during renewed scrutiny of police conduct in France. In recent student-led protests, a 14-year-old lost most of his teeth when an officer appeared to fire a grenade at him at close range, The Guardian reported.

Other cases have reached court, but convictions remain rare. A French police officer is to be tried over the June 2023 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk outside Paris, where video also challenged the police account. In 2024, three officers received suspended jail sentences for causing irreversible rectal injuries to Theo Luhaka during a 2017 stop-and-search.

A report last year by France’s rights ombudswoman said young men “perceived as Arab, black or from North Africa” were four times more likely to be stopped by police than the rest of the population, based on a survey of more than 5,000 people. It said they were 12 times more likely to face harsher measures, including frisking.

Source: news report, The Guardian, Nov. 9, 2026