This Thursday, the Criminal Court of Nice, France, handed down a verdict on racist charges faced by former Nice coach Galtier, despite the fact that Nice prosecutor Damien Martinelli had previously asked for a one-year suspended sentence in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, however, the judge acquitted Galtier, with the verdict saying: "The charges are not established. ”
Galtier, who is currently in Qatar, is the manager of FC Duhail and did not attend the verdict due to the fact that his team has a match on Thursday afternoon, represented by his lawyers, Shapira and Olivier Martin. Galtier, who attended last week's hearing, denied all the allegations, calling them false, misinterpreted or misunderstood.
The lawsuit has done great damage to Galtier. After he stepped down from Paris Saint-Germain, he has been in contact with many European clubs such as Napoli and Marseille, but he has failed to become a coach, and European clubs will be more or less worried that the lawsuit will cause unnecessary off-field turmoil. The incident began with an earlier email in May 2022** sent by former Nice general manager Fournier to shareholder INEOS Group, who claimed that Galtier had complained during his time at Nice that there were "too many blacks and Muslims" in the team.
Fournier himself left Nice almost at the same time as Galtier, and he did not attend the hearing, which angered Gallier, who believed that the whole affair was fabricated by Fournier out of a conflict with him out of work. Many players, coaches and clubs** who know Galtier have provided their testimonies that they have never been aware of racist views or behaviour. Galtier said that if he had discriminated against Muslims, he would not have been able to win Ligue 1 with Lille, a team that had six Muslims in their starting line-up.
The French judiciary conducted extensive evidence on the top and bottom of the Nice club. There are some ambiguities and contradictions in the testimonies collected by the court. For example, some Nice players said they experienced racism, while others said they didn't.
For example, long-time employee of the Nice club, Frédéric Giltier, who worked as an assistant to the Galtier coaching staff, said that in January 2022, when Nice bought the Franco-Arabic Guyri, Galtier had publicly complained: "Another Muslim, I don't want it anymore, I've had enough." Gioria also said that Galtier called the two Muslim players, Budavi and Atal, "trash" because they are "Algerians" and "the most extreme." However, Atal said he had never witnessed Galtier discriminate against him.
Mbae, another club employee and former analyst, said that Galtier referred to Saint-Etienne centre-backs Mukudi and Nader as "King Kong" when discussing a match, and Galtier said he referred to strong players as King Kong, such as Nantes' white player Palova, who he also called "King Kong".
France international Todibo, one of the most disliked players at Galtier, told investigators that he had been asked to give up fasting on match days. Galtier said his dietary advice to his players was only for health purposes, as is the case in any team coached, with only a few people understanding it as discrimination. Another player, Kamara, accused Galtier of treating him like "trash", and Galtier said it was simply because of the player's personal ability and that there was no religious reason.
Another accusation came from Galtier's youth team coach Digal when he was in charge of Nice. Galtier accused him of converting to Islam and therefore possibly prosecuting young players. Furious, Digar submitted his resignation, which was rejected by Fournier. The following season, Digar was promoted to first-team manager, but failed to become a regular at the end of the season. Mr. Galtier said the accusation was also unfounded, and he even provided his own office in Nice for Muslim players to pray, allowing Muslim players to leave early on Friday to go to the mosque.
"Today is a complete rehabilitation, and it is a relief that these shameful accusations have done great harm to his personal and professional life," two of Galtier's lawyers told AFP. It is also a sense of satisfaction and justice for the defense lawyers, as we have succeeded in dismantling the crimes that the prosecution has tried to establish unjustly, and we have also proved that some of the manipulated statements were made solely for the purpose of tarnishing the professional reputation of Coach Galtier. ”
After communicating with Galtier, the two lawyers relayed Galtier's attitude to **: "Galtier told us how relieved he is to find his honour, and how much he now wishes to turn the page immediately and devote himself to sports and family." ”