Former security aide to Macron sentenced to 1 year in prison

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — A former security aide to French President Emmanuel Macron who triggered controversy by assaulting a protester at a 2018 May Day march has been convicted of illegal violence and other offenses and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. Alexandre Benalla Friday received a three-year prison sentence — two years of which were suspended — and will be allowed to spend the remaining 12 months at his mother’s home provided he wears an electronic tag. Benalla’s actions, and their handling by Macron’s office, caused the French leader’s first political crisis. Criticism centered on why the aide had used violence against the demonstrator in the May Day confrontation — at which Macron was not present — as police stood by watching.