In his legal complaint filed on May 5th against “person or persons unknown” for “aggravated violence” and “deliberately endangering the life of others”, a French air force pilot described how, on the day he began his new post at an airbase on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, he was overpowered and his wrists, knees and ankles tied with adhesive tape and his head covered with a hood, before he was bundled into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a site used for air-to-ground target practice by fighters with live amunition.
There, he was firmly strapped to one of the posts used as targets while Mirage jets roared above him, amid what he said were the “sounds of bombs crashing” and canon fire close by.
The events occurred on March 27th 2019, just hours after the young pilot had arrived on his new posting to the 126 air base at Solenzara in south-east Corsica, in what was apparently an initiation 'prank' by his future colleagues. The base is home to the French air force’s prestigious “2/5 Île-de-France” squadron of Mirage fighter jets.
The existence of the complaint, lodged with the prosecution services in Marseille, was first revealed on Friday by French regional daily La Provence, which reported that the pilot, identified only as A.S., had decided on the legal move after his requests for a transfer from the base had been unsuccessful.
La Provence reported that his lawyers argued that the offences cited in the complaint were “aggravated” because they were “committed by professionals, army personnel and officers”.
“They played Russian roulette with Mirages,” one of the pilot’s lawyers, Silvio Rossi-Arnaud, told La Provence.
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In a statement, the French air force said an internal investigation had been carried out after the airman first reported his ordeal, and that “firm punishment” had been given to those involved, but did not detail who they were nor what form of punishment they were given. In a post on Twitter, French journalist Jean-Marc Tanguy, specialised in military affairs, said the punishment consisted of a few days of detention.
Mediapart has obtained photos and video footage of the events, filmed by those who kidnapped the airman.
According to his account, upon his arrival at the airbase he was treated to nothing worse in terms of hazing than a few sarcastic comments before being made to put on an immersion survival suit, pumped with air, and told to imitate the hands of a clock (photo above).
But a little later the initiation took a sinister turn when the pilot was taken into hand by other military staff at the airbase. In his complaint, he said they put over his head a black bag used for carrying airmen’s helmets and was then “transported in a personnel vehicle for a journey of around thirty minutes”. In one photo (see below) he is seen in the back of a vehicle, hooded, while the men escorting him are visibly amused.
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The ragging became a violent ordeal after he was delivered to another group of military staff who he was not familiar with. They used adhesive tape to tie together his wrists, knees and ankles, before he was dumped, still hooded, into the back of a pickup (see below).
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Pilot A.S. recounted that, lying in the back deck of the pickup, he was then driven at high speed along bumpy roads. His captors inside the vehicle took a photo of him (below) during the journey.
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According to his legal complaint, it was after about ten minutes when the pickup reached its destination and he was taken out of it for the absurd and violent finale to the initiation. Still hooded and unaware of where he was, A.C. was then tightly strapped to a pole. It was after about another ten minutes later that he heard the roar of low-flying fighter jets and realised that he was in fact on the firing range used by the planes from the air base for target practice. The pole he was tied too, pockmarked by cannon fire, was a practice target, with four large red marker blades and a bullseye (see below).
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In the complaint filed by A.S., his lawyers described the events that followed: “A first plane is heard by the victim passing in front of him, from the left to the right and carrying out a pass of live [ammunition] firing. The victim then hears the noises of bombs that crash to his right, causing an impressive and frightening sound […] The planes incessantly circled to his right to reposition themselves and to engage sometimes in firing live ammunition to the right of the victim, sometimes in simulated firing in his direction, and all of this during about ten minutes.” The hood was taken off pilot A.C.’s head when, still strapped to the pole, he could then see the jets circling. In his complaint, he estimates that the live ammunition was being fired about 500 metres away from his position, and that the ordeal lasted for around 20 minutes.
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When he is finally released from the pole, A.C. is ordered to return to the vehicle, but forced to do so by hopping because his ankles are still tied. The scene was filmed:
The revelation of the events at the air base at Solenzara in Corsica follow on legal complaints for harassment filed in January by six serving and former male and female staff of various ranks, including a fighter pilot, at the major “133 Nancy-Ochey” French air force base in eastern France. They allege the practice of initiation ordeals, insults and humiliating bullying which their lawyer, Frédéric Berna, said illustrated a “form of institutionalised practice of harassment” in the French air force. Following the filing of the complaints, the public prosecution services in Metz opened a preliminary investigation in February.
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- The original French version of this report can be found here.
English version by Graham Tearse