French rappers in airport brawl get 18-month suspended sentences
Two French rappers who got into a fight at Orly Airport have been handed 18-month suspended sentences and ordered to pay fines of €50,000.
The rival rappers, known as Booba and Kaaris, were arrested in August after a fight erupted in the airport terminal along with their respective entourages.
Nine other defendants were handed sentences of up to 12 months each.
The fight, which was recorded and shared on social media, led to the temporary closure of the airport and caused delays for hundreds of passengers. Bottles of duty free perfume were thrown.
Following their arrests, both men spent about three weeks in prison before they were released on bail of €30,000.
Prosecutors concluded that both men were to blame and asked for a one-year suspended sentence for each, but the judge decided to hand down a harsher 18 months.
The court heard that being watched and recorded by passengers meant the pair, who had cultivated aggressive public personas, could not back down so the confrontation escalated.
A separate court case will deal with the damage caused to the duty free shop.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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