The death of George Floyd reclassified as murder, the four ex-agents prosecuted

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The prosecutor investigating the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis redefined the facts as intentional homicide. The police officer who asphyxiated the 46-year-old man was charged with "unpremeditated murder" and the three other officers present during the arrest, of complicity.

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The death by asphyxiation of George Floyd is now qualified as murder. First charged and manslaughter for manslaughter , former policeman Derek Chauvin who knelt on his neck for eight minutes, causing his death, is now charged with "unpremeditated murder". He faces up to 40 years in prison.

In addition to toughening up his prosecution, prosecutor Keith Ellison, representing the Minnesota state authorities, raised the ex-officer's release bail to $ 1 million. The other police officers who accompanied him during the arrest, who have also been dismissed from the police since, are accused of complicity. Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are criticized for helping to tackle George Floyd, who was handcuffed, and for remaining passive while Derek Chauvin applied fatal pressure to the victim's neck with his knee.

► Read also: Four Minneapolis police officers dismissed after the death of a black man

The family of the victim, who died on May 25, welcomed the worsening of these lawsuits, in a statement by his lawyer, Ben Crump. "  It is an important step on the road to justice,  " she commented, nine days after the blur recorded on a video that shocked American society and beyond the borders of the country. "  We are grateful for this important development before the body of George Floyd is buried  ," added the family, referring to the victim's funeral planned for next week.

Lawyer Ben Crump asked prosecutor Ellison, who was assigned this explosive case only Sunday, to go even further in his prosecution by considering that the homicide of George Floyd was premeditated. His death, at the age of 46, generated a historic protest movement in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets day after day to denounce racism and police brutality.

( With AFP)

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