• The French international rugby player Mohamed Haouas was tried this Friday for acts of violence in assembly committed ten years earlier, as well as five other men, almost all from the district of Petit-Bard.
  • Twenty-four months suspended prison sentence were requested against Mohamed Haouas by the Montpellier public prosecutor, who took into account the facts, but also the personality of the defendant ten years later.
  • The judgement was reserved until 30 June.

Twenty-four months suspended prison sentence were requested by the prosecutor of the Republic of Montpellier, against Mohamed Haouas. The right pillar of Montpellier Hérault Rugby and the France rugby team was prosecuted before the criminal court for acts of violence in assembly committed on January 1, 2014, almost nine and a half years earlier. He was 19 years old at the time. He is now 29. The verdict was reserved until 30 June.

The court judged the assault of a nightclub owner by a dozen young men mostly from the Petit-Bard district, after an apparently violent behavior against the daughter of the victim, who was waiting outside. A scenario that does not recognize Mohamed Haouas, who explains that the victim would have hit him randomly because he was next to this girl and would have taken out a handgun that he would have used twice in the air. An explanation confirmed by the other defendants, but by no witness to the scene. If the video from the cameras of the bakery does not make it possible to judge the origin of the facts, it shows on the other hand the deluge of blows that falls on the victim, absent at the hearing. A lynching of which the one who has since become a professional rugby player is the main protagonist.

"I haven't had any problems with the law for ten years"

"Justice can be blamed for a certain slowness. It is obvious that this case should have been tried in 2014, or even in 2015. But by no means in 2023. But it also shows us how much we can get by, says the prosecutor of the republic. At the time of the facts, in view of this video, I would have bet several tickets that this boy we see on the video would have had a course of delinquency, but absolutely not what he has become today. However, the passage of time does not dissolve responsibilities. Only the court can do this. They will be judged according to gravity and personality at the time of the facts and their personality today."

"His personal, family and professional development is extremely positive," says the rugby player's lawyer, Marc Gallix. I cannot make the same submissions today as I would have made if this case had been tried right after the fact. The prosecutor's indictment is very clever. »

"I want to move on"

A year ago, the Hérault international was sentenced to eighteen months in prison suspended for his involvement in burglaries in 2014, when he had not yet started his professional career.

"I want to move on. I have had no problem with the law for ten years, says the player, supported at the hearing by Yacouba Camara, another French international of Montpellier. At the time, I was young, I was coming out of a neighborhood, I was not a professional rugby player. That's all behind me. I've made mistakes, but I'm entitled to a second chance."

Violence and apologies

At the hearing, the international and the four other defendants (a fifth did not appear before the judge) tried to justify the beginning of this violence by the presence of a firearm. But he also apologized. Towards the employees of the bakery, at first, and finally towards the victims as well. "I apologize, I regret, I got carried away, I had been drinking, I was even drunk. I fought but not for nothing... I grew up in a neighborhood, I did stupid things, but it's over. I am Muslim, but my son is in a Catholic school with a little Jesus, they call me Maurice... ».

The prosecutor requested twelve months' imprisonment for the other defendants, all suspended.


  • Justice
  • Rugby
  • Montpellier
  • Hérault
  • Occitania
  • Languedoc-Roussillon
  • Montpellier Hérault Rugby
  • Team of France
  • Violence