Child Slapped by François Bayrou in 2002 Now Serving 10-Year Prison Sentence

The 11-year-old boy involved in the infamous 2002 incident has faced a troubled path, culminating in a major drug trafficking conviction.

In 2002, François Bayrou, then a presidential candidate, slapped an 11-year-old boy in Strasbourg during a campaign visit, accusing him of attempting to pick his pocket.
The incident, captured on camera, briefly boosted Bayrou's campaign but did not lead to significant electoral success; he is now France's Prime Minister.
The boy, identified as Yacine G., later adopted the nickname 'Bayrou' in his neighborhood but struggled with a life of crime, accumulating multiple convictions for violence and drug trafficking.
In 2022, Yacine G. was sentenced to 10 years in prison as the leader of a drug trafficking operation spanning from the Netherlands to Alsace.
His former lawyer described him as intelligent but unable to escape a cycle of criminal behavior, noting a failed prison escape attempt that left him gravely injured.