• On January 9 and 18, 2020, a comedian and "yellow vest" twice tried to set fire to the prestigious La Rotonde brewery. A restaurant regularly frequented by important political figures.
  • Believing that it was a last solution to be heard, the culprit Valentin Bleix claims a political and symbolic act.
  • On Friday, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced him to four years in prison, three of which were suspended.

"I wanted to provoke something spectacular," he says. The comedian and "yellow vest", Valentin Baleix, who had burned down twice the prestigious restaurant of the Rotonde in January 2020 was tried Friday. The second fire it caused, closed the restaurant for six months, and put the 53 employees of the brewery on partial unemployment. His act would have caused damage of several hundred thousand euros, even several million, to the owners. Convicted, he was sentenced to four years in prison, three of which were suspended. The man will probably have an adjusted sentence "since he has already spent eight months in detention," said his lawyer, Raphaël Kempf.

The defendant claims a political and symbolic act of which "the staff of La Rotonde was not the real target". Known as a place regularly frequented by leading political figures, first by Nicolas Sarkozy, then by Emmanuel Macron, La Rotonde was erected in spite of itself as a symbol of power.

"You don't set fire to a restaurant for nothing"

At the time of the events, the man was wearing a black three-quarter, a hat and a multicolored shopping bag, which greatly facilitated the work of investigators. Three years later, it is in the most sober of outfits that he presents himself at the helm. Dressed in a black top, gray stocking and matching sneakers, the actor with mid-length hair embodies simplicity. A graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble and passionate about art, Valentin Bleix has a strong tendency to intellectualize each of his speeches. Even his mandatory psychological follow-up is referred to as "interesting discussions".

"I wonder what pushes you to appropriate the causes of others, to fill the giant narcissistic flaw that we see in you?" asks the public prosecutor, who suspects him of repressing a deep malaise. "We don't set fire to a restaurant, we don't take drugs, we don't attempt suicide for nothing... " she insists. The defense portrays a lost individual, who would not have known how to see the risk of spreading the fire. She believes that "the movement of the 'yellow vests' has resonated with some, and that it may have been even stronger for those who were in lack of meaning".

"The only way to be heard"

"What if we stopped psychologizing excessively?" argues the defense. "We psychologize so much that we no longer see the political motive of our act", yet anchored in a context of important social movements. During discussions with the experts responsible for drawing up the psychological profile of the accused, one of the psychologists came to draw a link between the president and the father figure. "Mr. Baleix is not a lost, depressed individual who would have wanted to set fire in response to existential anguish," insists his lawyer.


"The reason for his act is as obvious as the nose in the middle of the face," he continues. According to Raphaël Kempf, this is a political act, assumed by the culprit "as the only way to be heard in a context of massive repression of demonstrations". The lawyer suggests adding sociological expertise before the trial, for facts of this nature. "We miss something" by analyzing an act without taking into account its societal implications, he argues. Even if, in the courtroom, everyone agrees that demands are better spent in non-violence.

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