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Man gets 4 months’ jail for slapping France’s Emmanuel Macron
- A court gave Damien Tarel a sentence of 18 months in jail, but 14 of those months were suspended
- The 28-year-old attacked Macron when the president was shaking hands with members of the public during a walkabout in France’s Drome region
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A French court ordered the man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron across the face to serve four months in jail, BFM TV reported.
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The court gave Damien Tarel, 28, a fan of medieval swordsmanship and martial arts, a sentence of 18 months in jail, but 14 of those months were suspended, the broadcaster reported.
Earlier, Tarel told the court in Valence in southern France, that he was a right-wing sympathiser who acted because the president stood for all that was rotten with the country, the news channel said.
Tarel attacked Macron when the French president was shaking hands with members of the public during a walkabout in France’s Drome region.
Tarel said that several days ahead of Macron’s visit to the region, he had thought about throwing an egg or a cream tart at the president, but added the slap was not premeditated.
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“I think that Macron represents very neatly the decay of our country,” he told the court, according to BFM TV. “If I had challenged Macron to a duel at sunrise, I doubt he would have responded.”
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