While the United States is experiencing a protest movement of unprecedented scale after the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died during a police check, the prosecutor investigating the case has redefined the facts as homicide voluntary.

The prosecutor investigating the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis redefined the facts as voluntary homicide, charging the police officer who asphyxiated the American black man with "premeditated murder" and complicity in the three other officers present.

Constable Derek Chauvin, dismissed from the police like his three colleagues, therefore faces a maximum sentence of 40 years' imprisonment for this count, according to the indictment registered in court.

"It is an important step on the road to justice"

The family of the victim, who died on May 25, welcomed the worsening of these lawsuits, in a statement by his lawyer, Ben Crump. "This is an important step on the road to justice," she commented, nine days after the blunder recorded on a video that shocked American society and beyond the borders of the country.

The death of George Floyd, aged 46, sparked a historic protest in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets day after day to speak out against racism and police brutality.