After one week of provisional detention, Alexandre Benalla, the former bodyguard to French President Emmanuel Macron, and his associate, Vincent Crase were granted freedom today by the French court of appeal.
Benalla and Crase - a former employee of the ruling La Republique En Marche party, LREM - were placed under provisional detention last week on 19 February after the two allegedly broke conditions of their bail.
Their appeal was initially rejected on Friday by the head of the investigating chamber of the Court.
But by late Tuesday, they were seen leaving the prison.
“The investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal has overturned the orders for revocation of judicial review and provisional detention as was imposed on February 19th by the judge of freedoms and detention of the First Instance court of Paris” announced the general prosecutor.
The two men were being held on suspicion of having spoken to each other in defiance of a court order that was investigating a violent incident on May 1st, 2018.
Investigation
Since July 22nd of last year, the two men have been under investigation for treating protesters violently during a May Day demonstration.
As they were both placed under judicial control, they were prohibited from having any contact with each other.
But on January 31st this year, Mediapart, an independent French investigative outlet, published undercover conversations recorded between the two men dating from July 26th.
Soon after they were convened to the Paris tribunal, and then on to the judge of freedoms and detention.
