justice confirms the conviction of the rugby player for assault but rules out the racist nature – Libération

2023 Rugby World Cup in FrancedossierThe French international and Montpellier player was convicted in 2020 for racist assault, after a drunken brawl the previous year in Toulouse.

The affair had poisoned the preparation of the French XV for its home World Cup. At the beginning of September, a week before the start of the rugby world championship, second row Bastien Chalureau joined the French team to compensate for Paul Willemse’s withdrawal. Quickly, on social networks, some had highlighted an inglorious line from his CV: a conviction, in 2020 by the criminal court of Toulouse, for “acts of violence with the circumstance that these were committed due to the race or ethnicity of the victim. The Montpellier player was ordered to explain himself, with tears in his eyes, in front of journalists, while his counsel recalled that he had appealed the conviction, recognizing the acts of violence but not the racist motive.

This Tuesday, January 16, Bastien Chalureau was sentenced on appeal to six months in prison for this violence committed against two men, but the racist nature of the attack was ultimately not accepted. “Bastien Chalureau is not proud of the violence he committed but he is not a racist,” his lawyer, Me David Mendel, declared to the press, “extremely satisfied” to see “that the file was respected and that Bastien Chalureau was acquitted of this infamous aggravating circumstance with which he was accused.

The facts with which Bastien Charlureau was accused took place in the Jean-Jaurès car park in Toulouse on January 31, 2020. At the end of an evening, the player, drunk, was involved in a fight involving two other rugby players: Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif. “I heard someone shouting: ‘Are you OK?’ traces back to the Yannick Larguet era with the Dispatch. “I turned around and saw a strong guy crossing the Jean-Jaurès aisles with a friend.”

Yannick Larguet then says he asked the person if they were talking to him while the racist insults rained down. “I tried to turn around and he punched me with all his might in the jaw. I stepped back, I was in a fog. During this time, he hit my boyfriend. He was hysterical, enraged,” he continues. He explains that he heard his attacker’s friends call him “Chalu” and subsequently recognized him on the Stade Toulouse website. The 31-year-old rugby player has always denied having made racist remarks and having said “Are you okay, the bugnoules?”, as the complainants claimed.

Bastien Chalureau has seven caps for the French team, including one against Uruguay during the last World Cup. The controversy surrounding his conviction at first instance caused even Emmanuel Macron to react. The President of the Republic had estimated that in the event of confirmation on appeal of the judgment, it “would be preferable” that he no longer wears the jersey of the France team.

Updated at 3:05 p.m. with more context.