Three French police officers stand trial over 2020 beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler

Three French police officers went on trial on Monday over the beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler in Paris nearly six years ago, a case that was captured on camera and set off nationwide anger over police violence and racism.

The officers said they stopped Zecler, now 47, outside his Paris studio on November 21, 2020, because he was not wearing a mandatory face mask during the Covid pandemic and because they suspected him of cannabis use. They then pushed him into the entrance of his office and beat him, in an assault recorded by his studio's security cameras.

It is a rare instance of an alleged police brutality case reaching a criminal court in France, where most such accusations are handled internally. Zecler said he wanted the proceedings to deliver consequences. "I expect this trial to hold the police officers accountable," he told AFP in a recent interview.

The accused officers, identified as Aurelien B., now 29, Pierre P., 37, and Philippe T., are charged with intentional violence committed in a group, as well as forgery for allegedly trying to conceal their actions in an official report. They face up to 15 years in prison. Their lawyers declined to comment ahead of the trial.

According to the investigation, Zecler was struck around 30 times with punches and truncheon blows to the face and body over roughly five minutes. A medical report recorded craniofacial trauma, wounds to his lip and scalp, and a complete rupture of his biceps tendon, injuries that kept him from working for 45 days.

France's ombudswoman has said police used "racist insults" during the assault, citing four witnesses. The officers deny the claim, and the alleged racism was not included in the indictment. Zecler told AFP a racist slur was used against him, saying: "I was insulted and I will repeat this at the hearing."

In their arrest report, the officers claimed Zecler had struck them and tried to grab a truncheon. That account was contradicted by video footage released several days later by the French media website Loopsider. "If there hadn't been cameras .. their reports would have been enough to send me to prison," Zecler said, adding that he still suffers nightmares and now has a titanium anchor in his left arm. "I don't understand the hatred I saw in their eyes," he said.

Campaigners and rights groups have pointed to the case as further evidence of what they describe as systemic racism within the French police, arguing that ethnic minorities face far harsher treatment than white people. Authorities and law enforcement unions maintain such violence is limited to isolated cases, while victims and researchers say it is systemic.

The issue has returned to the forefront in recent weeks amid student-led protests, including an incident in which a 14-year-old lost most of his teeth when a police officer appeared to fire a grenade at him at very close range. In a separate case heading to court, a French policeman is to be tried over the fatal point-blank shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk outside Paris in June 2023, where video footage also contradicted the police version and sparked nationwide protests.

Convictions in alleged police brutality cases remain uncommon. In 2024, a judge handed suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries on a Black man, Theo Luhaka, during a 2017 stop-and-search. A report last year by France's rights chief, based on a survey of more than 5,000 people, found young men "perceived as Arab, black or from North Africa" were four times more likely to be stopped than the rest of the population and 12 times more likely to face more severe measures, including being frisked during checks.