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In France, the prosecutor's office on Thursday, November 21, three-month suspended prison sentence against a CRS that had been filmed throwing a pavement at the demonstrators during a mobilization of "yellow vests" on May 1. This trial was highly anticipated, being the first time that a law enforcement official was tried for "willful violence by a person in the custody of the public authority".
It was a symbolic trial , because it was the first, but paradoxically not so emblematic as it was a lawsuit without civil party: the pavement launched by the police did not touch anyone.
A trial without a victim therefore, while nearly 2,500 demonstrators were injured and more than 370 complaints denouncing police violence filed since the beginning of the movement.
If the prosecutor did ask for the conviction of the police officer, considering that this throw of pavement was an " illegitimate violence ", she underlined "to understand the difficulty of the situation in which the policeman was ", confronted since hours with the violence of some demonstrators and coming to witness the serious injury of his superior.
The magistrate requested three months suspended sentence against the CRS, on a maximum penalty incurred three years in prison. Although having pleaded the acquittal, the lawyer of the policeman Maître Boguet said he was satisfied with this indictment, which he judged " measured and adapted ".
" Two weights, two measures ", are indignant "yellow vests"
These requisitions, on the other hand, made leap a few "yellow vests" present in the room. For them, there is clearly " two weights, two measures ", depending on whether one is "yellow vest" or force of the order. They point to the big difference between the figures: more than 1,960 police officers and some 2,500 protesters have been injured in the last year, 3,200 demonstrators have already been convicted of violence, often in immediate court appearances, while only three members law enforcement agencies are currently under judicial prosecution, according to the Chancellery. In addition to the CRS trial Thursday, November 21, a police officer must appear on December 5 for light violence in Strasbourg and a third in mid-December for giving a slap to a demonstrator in Paris, May 1.
Business, denounce the "yellow vests", incommensurate with the serious injuries sustained by some demonstrators, victims, point they, of abusive beatings or éborning by shots of launcher of balls of defense (LBD) . A total of 372 proceedings were registered after complaints against law enforcement agencies, most of which were entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the police of the police, 109 of which were already closed. The others are still being analyzed.
" These cases are never taken lightly, " according to the IGPN
Often accused of bias by protesters, the IGPN refutes these accusations: " These cases are never taken lightly, " says the head of the Investigations Coordination Unit of the IGPN. Questioned by Le Parisien , David Chantreux indicates that the comparison between the number of "yellow vests" and that of police officers already pursued has no place: " The use of force by a protester is by nature, except legitimate defense, a violent act. The police officer can act by using force under strict conditions provided by law, "he says.
Investigating a police officer therefore takes " more time " according to him, since it is sometimes " difficult to identify the offending agents " and especially many cross-checks are necessary to be able to " determine if the official used force legitimately " . The IGPN also states that after investigation, it is the prosecutor's office to decide to prosecute or file without result.
The independence of the justice questioned
As illustrated by the reaction of "yellow vests" at the CRS pitcher's trial, some protesters question the independence of the judiciary. Mathias, 22, is part of the Parisian misunderstanding. On March 30 in Besançon, he was beaten with a truncheon behind the head by a policeman who mistakenly believed he was going to pick up a grenade.
The incident was filmed, the police officer identified. Yet the prosecution has closed the case for " no offense ", the prosecutor arguing that certainly Mathias " did not intend to pick up the object, but on the other hand, there was no 'guilty intention of the policeman '. An argument described as " ridiculous " by Mathias: " The image of the judicial institution has deteriorated in my eyes, " he says daily.
Statements that fuel doubt
This doubt about the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the police, as political authorities who have repeatedly rejected the term "police violence", has been fueled by certain statements, such as the Nice prosecutor. Jean-Michel Prêtre has publicly acknowledged that he has excluded police responsibility in the Geneviève Legay case, named after the 73-year-old activist who was seriously injured in a charge on March 23rd. This not to contradict Emmanuel Macron, who had wrongly asserted that the victim had had " no contact with the police ".
A month of deliberations, for the " necessary retreat "
Thursday, November 21, the president of the tribunal clearly evoked the complexity to judge this kind of cases. " Making this decision will be difficult, we know, it is already criticized, while it is not yet made, " he said. Before explaining: " If we condemn, some will accuse us of saying that the CRS must be caillasser without reacting ; and if not, that justice necessarily covers the actions of the police ".
He also planned a month of deliberations, until December 19, " the time to take the necessary step back ," he insisted.