Justice has delivered its verdict.
Three police officers were sentenced to sentences ranging from 3 to 12 months in prison on Friday by the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis for the violent arrest in 2017 of Théo Luhaka, a young black man established as a symbol of violence police officers.
After more than nine hours of deliberation, peacekeeper Marc-Antoine Castelain was found guilty of the baton blow which seriously injured the young man then aged 22, in the city of 3,000 in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis).
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and banned from practicing on public roads for 5 years.
Suspended prison sentences of 3 months were handed down against his colleagues Jérémie Dulin and Tony Hochart for intentional violence.
Sentences handed down below the prosecutor's requirements
The court made a decision below the requisitions of the attorney general who had requested sentences ranging from three months to three years in prison.
She did not retain the qualification “voluntary violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability”.
Théodore Luhaka, now 29 years old, has been suffering from a disability since his arrest on February 2, 2017 by three officials from the specialized field brigade (BST).
The scene captured by cameras in the town of Aulnay-sous-Bois shows the police arresting the young man, who opposes them.
During the fight, Marc-Antoine Castelain struck a blow with the tip of his telescopic defense stick (BTD) through the victim's underwear.
This thrust caused the rupture of his sphincter (ring muscle) with a wound ten centimeters deep.
Despite two surgical operations, Théo Luhaka suffers from incontinence and has irreversible after-effects, according to medical experts.
He said he "felt violated" during the trial which lasted two weeks.
The injury caused by a blow “taught at school”
The police officer expressed his "compassion" after causing the serious injury but considered his blow "legitimate", "taught at school".
An administrative investigation by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) concluded that there was “a disproportionate use of force” during the arrest.
The three agents were transferred to their original regions.
Almost seven years after this "Theo affair" with national repercussions, the debate on the maintenance of order and the use of force has continued to resurface, notably with the death of Nahel, killed during a road check by a police shooting in June.
With AFP
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