A court Friday handed a six-month suspended jail term to a man who assaulted French President Nicolas Sarkozy, letting him walk free. The court in Agen, south-western France, sentenced Hermann Fuster, 32, over Thursday's surprise breach of presidential security, which struck as Sarkozy greeted the public in nearby Brax. Sarkozy was not harmed.
The court heard that Fuster, a caretaker and receptionist at a local conservatory, had texted his ex-wife just before the incident telling her he wanted to give Sarkozy a "smack in the mouth."
In fact he grabbed the president by the jacket and yanked him off balance before Sarkozy's security detail intervened and pinned Fuster to the ground. Sarkozy staggered, straightened up and looked briefly ruffled but then went on glad-handing the public. The brief rumpus was caught on camera and aired by news channels.
Fuster pleaded he had actually meant he just wanted to "talk smack" to the president and insisted the text messages were a joke. Fuster's lawyer Laurent Bruneau said his client was part of the "indignants", a social protest movement, and his move to grab the president was a message that he had "had enough."
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