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A man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week has been handed a four-month jail sentence.
28-year-old Damien Tarel, who said he is a right-wing sympathizer, attacked President Macron as he shook hands with members of the public during a walkabout in France’s Drome region on Tuesday.
The court in Valence in southern France sentenced Tarel to 18 months in jail but 14 of those months were suspended.
Tarel told the court that he slapped the president because he stood for all that was rotten with France.
“I think that Macron represents very neatly the decay of our country. If I had challenged Macron to a duel at sunrise, I doubt he would have responded,” he is quoted as saying.
The man was charged with assault against a public official, an offense that attracts a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a 45,000 euro fine.
Macron described the attack as an isolated incident, adding that violence and hate were a threat to democracy.