The police officer, an unnamed member of the urban security team at the Mantes-la-Jolie police station on the outskirts of Paris, has been accused of abusing his authority and charged with one count of assault after the alleged incident took place during an interrogation in early March.
But the officer continues to claim his innocence, arguing he acted in “self-defence”.
The police officer told the court that the suspect – a 40-something Algerian who was being questioned by police over claims he had tried to extort money from his mother and physically assaulted her after she refused to comply – is a dangerous “would-be jihadist”.
He added that he had taken the death threats issued against him that day “very seriously”.
The officer told the judges: “The suspect, who was being interrogated by myself and my colleagues, was being particularly hostile and was refusing to answer questions about the alleged extortion attempt and assault… And then all of a sudden, he stood up, inched closer to me and made as if to hit me. And so I punched him… I acted in self-defence.
“He was hurling insults at me and threatening to kill me in the name of Allah. This man is a jihadist in the making.”
The police officer, a former boxer who towers at 1.90m and weighs 100kg, said his punch was a “proportionate defensive response” to the death threats, arguing that the suspect had only been “slightly injured” after receiving a “single blow to the cheekbone”.
The Algerian man, whose identity also remains unknown, was for his part handed a 15-month prison sentence for verbally assaulting a person in authority.
The suspect has an extensive criminal past, and was well known to police long before the March incident for aggravated assault, contempt and rebellion.