To be honest...............
get off the fence Mike
If they were breaking the law, and they were then they deserve to pay the price of the law of the land they are in, I don't care who they are.................
No vested interest of Monsieur Gendarme then .........? The whole world knows who they are & IIRC they've been 'done' for speeding in French France before. However the Italian Plod have encouraged them to put their clog down waved them on.
On the various [/s]races[s] road trips I have seen they are 'chancers' break the law in every country, and not just speeding, given how the behave they take a chance, this time they got caught by Gendarmes without a sense of humor, perhaps they were not fans......
A lad a work was travelling through France on his (fast) motorbike a good few years ago. He stopped at a toll booth, the attendant passed his ticket directly to the gendarme stood behind her, he motioned him to the lay-by opposite. Said work colleague handed him his old style green/pink paper licence that now resembled the Dead Sea Scolls. A confused Monsieur Plod fumbled his way through various pages, still confused he looked at the UK reg plate .... the penny dropped & Mon Plod just told Phil ....... GO!
Judging by the cars they were pulled in, they probably were speeding, but I reckon their punishment was more due to who they were rather than just A N Other speeder.