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French rapper arrested after kicking his dog in video

French rapper Timal was arrested east of Paris on Wednesday after posting a video to Snapchat showing him kicking a dog, police and prosecutors told AFP.

Published: 1 September 2022 15:05 CEST

French rapper arrested after kicking his dog in video

Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

The clip showed the 25-year-old musician, real name Ruben Louis, kicking one of his two dogs three times around the head, and bore the caption “you moron”.

Timal was arrested on Wednesday morning in Champs-sur-Marne and his two dogs confiscated, prosecutors in nearby Meaux said, adding that he faced charges of “cruelty towards a domestic animal”.

Several animal rights groups, including France’s oldest, the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) said they had filed complaints.

The latest high-profile animal cruelty case comes after French footballer Kurt Zouma was in June sentenced to 180 hours’ community service by a British court for abusing his cat, which also came to light in a viral video.

Timal first broke through in February this year with Filtre (Filter), recorded alongside fellow rapper Gazo and which was number one in the charts for a week in March.

The song has been played more than 52 million times on the world’s top music streaming service Spotify, and almost the same number of times on YouTube.

Five days ago, Timal released a new single, Cameleon alongside veteran rapper Booba.

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French court jails man for 2020 cathedral arson attack

Emmanuel Abayisenga, a 42-year-old Rwandan, is also facing legal action for a separate incident in which he allegedly killed a priest in western France in 2021.

The court ruled that Abayisenga was not mentally sound at the time of the fire at the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paulwhen it handed down the sentence.

The court also banned Abayisenga from bearing weapons and staying in the western Loire-Atlantique region, where Nantes is located, for five years.

His lawyer, Meriem Abkoui, said her client’s answers in court occasionally “lacked coherence” and that his criminal responsibility was questionable.

She added that she was waiting for the results of psychiatric tests in the other legal proceedings against him, saying his trial for the priest murder could take place late next year.

Abayisenga, who arrived in France in 2012 and had been a volunteer for the local diocese, had admitted causing the blaze at the start of the hearing.

He said he had entered the cathedral to pray but then “lost control” after passing by a location in the building where he suffered a violent attack in 2018.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said he regretted what happened and asked for forgiveness.

Abayisenga has a history of unsuccessful asylum claims and received an order to leave France in 2019, which was said to have deeply troubled him.

The court acknowledged the defendant’s health issues, including hearing difficulties, incontinence, lung problems and eating disorders.

Prosecutor Veronique Wester-Ouisse said the defendant set fire to the cathedral knowingly due to “huge anger and a feeling of revenge linked to his administrative situation”.

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze quickly and save the main structure, but its famed 17th-century organ, which had survived the French revolution and bombardment during World War II, was destroyed.

Also lost were priceless artefacts, paintings and stained-glass windows that contained remnants of 16th-century glass.

The cathedral’s owners estimated the damage at more than €40 million.

The blaze in Nantes came 15 months after the devastating fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which raised questions about the security risks for other historic churches across France.

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