Daily Times

President Emmanuel Macron’s former bodyguard received a three-year sentence on Friday for assaulting two young demonstrators during an anti-capitalist protest in 2018, an incident that caused deep embarrassment for the president.

AlexandreBenalla — who will not see the inside of a prison after the court suspended two of the three years and ordered him to wear an electronic bracelet for one year — was also convicted of faking documents and illegally carrying a firearm.

Macron, who had made integrity in office a cornerstone of his 2017 election campaign, fired Benalla after a video emerged showing him striking a young man and grabbing a young woman by the neck at a May Day protest in Paris. The former bouncer, now aged 30, was wearing a police helmet, even though he had only been given leave to attend the protest as an observer.

“Benallagate” ballooned into the first major test for Macron’s presidency, which was accused of a cover-up for failing to report Benalla to the police until French daily Le Monde revealed the existence of the video two months after the incident.

Benalla denied the charges at his trial, saying he had acted “by reflex” to help officers arrest unruly protesters.