Former OGC Nice coach, Christophe Galtier, in front of the Nice court, December 15, 2023. VALERY HACHE / AFP
A one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros were requested on Friday before the Nice criminal court against Christophe Galtier, prosecuted for discrimination and harassment, mainly against Muslim players, when he was coach of OGC Nice, during the 2021-2022 season. The judgment was reserved until Thursday, 3:30 p.m.
M. Galtier a “clearly sought to reduce the number of blacks and Muslims on the team” in “instrumentalizing Ramadan”criticized the public prosecutor of Nice, Damien Martinelli, in his indictment, evoking the dimension “obsessive” taken by this month of fasting for the former Paris Saint-Germain coach, now at the head of the Qatari club Al-Duhail. “For a professional club, Ramadan is a given. For Christophe Galtier, it’s a problem”he added.
And the fact that sometimes the Nice coach fielded players observing the fast in matches “is a false subject: to hinder is to make the activity more difficult. To hinder is to say to the player: “If you don’t eat, you don’t play.” When we are in this blackmail, we are in obstruction, even if the obstruction has not succeeded and the player continues to fast”developed the prosecutor.
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Mr. Martinelli also mentioned “a background of ordinary racism on which Mr. Galtier is not entirely lucid”asking the court to imagine whether the words and facts reported would be acceptable outside the world of football: “I did not perceive any evolution, no awareness, no questioning”denounced the prosecutor.
Opening Monday morning, the trial continued into the evening with defense pleadings. Throughout the day, the audience saw word against word clash, Mr. Galtier vehemently rejecting certain remarks attributed to him, in particular by Julien Fournier, then general manager of the Aiglons, or explaining that others had been distorted or misinterpreted.
Among the civil parties, OGC Nice requested nothing, the Professional Football League requested a symbolic euro and the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism 5,000 euros in damages for its work of education and pedagogy.
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