French coach Christophe Galtier was acquitted on Thursday of charges of discrimination and harassment, a Nice court said, in a trial that focused on a relationship while he was still at the southern French club.
“Neither of the two violations has been proven,” the court clarified in its verdict after a hearing on December 15, during which prosecutors asked for a year in prison with a suspended sentence and a fine of 45 thousand euros.
According to the indictment, the former coach of Nice and later Paris Saint-Germain deliberately sought to “reduce the number of blacks and Muslims” in the Nice team, justifying it by fasting for Ramadan and highlighting “entrenched racism.”
Galtier was not present at the sentencing as he had returned to Qatar to play for his current team Al Duhail.
“This is a reaction of relief. These hateful accusations have caused significant damage to his life and professional career,” commented the coach’s lawyer Olivier Martin.
The case began in April after several media outlets published a letter in which former Nice director Julien Fournier accused Galtier of making discriminatory remarks against the club’s players during the period he coached the team during the 2021 season. /22.
According to Fournier, the coach told him, among other things, that Nice “cannot have so many blacks and Muslims” and expressed a desire to limit “the number of Muslim players to the minimum possible.”
A situation that forced French justice to launch an investigation.