• On Saturday, the juvenile court of appeal sentenced six young men to terms ranging from six to eighteen years of criminal imprisonment in the case of the seriously injured police officers in Viry-Châtillon in 2016.

  • The eight acquittals passed angered police officers who demonstrated on Tuesday.

  • Several complaints for "forgery in writing" are about to be filed by defense lawyers who denounce a prosecution.

They were, Tuesday afternoon, several thousand police officers gathered in front of the courthouse of their district to shout their anger and their incomprehension after the acquittal by the court of appeal of eight young men - three more than in first instance - implicated in the attack on four officials in Viry-Châtillon, Essonne, in October 2016. That day, two police cars parked on the edge of Grande-Borne, a sensitive area, were attacked by sixteen masked individuals. The attackers smash the windows, throw Molotov cocktails into the cockpit. Three officials were seriously burned, a final one comes out with multiple bruises and a bone tearing. Six defendants were sentenced on appeal to terms ranging from six to eighteen years' imprisonment.

If in the eighteen pages of reasons for the verdict, that

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was able to consult, the court recalls the extreme violence of the attack carried out by "an organized, equipped and prepared group", it expresses its questions on the way in which the investigations were carried out. "Insufficient" evidence, "contradictory" or unsubstantiated statements. During the trial, which was held behind closed doors (some of the defendants were minors at the time of the events), the head of the investigation himself admitted "that he had doubts and uncertainties about the implication of the defendants" , notes the document. The most seriously injured policeman, for example, remembered that the first assailant had black skin. However, it is a man with light skin, designated by a central witness as having launched the assault, who was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment at first instance. He was eventually acquitted on appeal.

Whole sections of interrogations not transcribed

On several occasions, the court explains that it is based on "the complete transcriptions of video recordings of police custody".

Because as Mediapart revealed on Tuesday, the police are suspected of having truncated the interrogations in their transcripts.

A complaint was filed during the trial by Me Frédérick Petipermon, one of the defendants' lawyers, for "forgery in public writing", others should be filed in the coming days.

"It is being drafted", specifies Me Sarah Mauger-Poliak, who defends one of the acquitted.

The lawyer confides to having realized this distortion during the trial at first instance.

“During one of the hearings, I noticed that the main witness was heard for about two and a half hours and that the minutes of this hearing only fit on two pages.

I found it weird, that's why I asked to watch the recordings, ”recalls Sarah Mauger-Poliak.

She remembers her "amazement" by noting that not only the words were "truncated" but above all "totally distorted".

"In the report, it is written that this witness implicates my client while he repeats eight times that he did not participate in this attack," she insists.

"It was harassment, it was terrible"

The lawyer therefore asks to be able to view the recording of her client's custody. Then 21 years old, he says he was going to his neighborhood at the time of the tragedy. Admittedly, he knows several members of the “S” gang, suspected of being involved in the attack, but continues to deny his involvement. What does not appear in the transcript. He will be presented as likely to have, at a minimum, been informed of the attack. “What is most striking, continues his lawyer, is that during a pause in the interrogation, the investigators who think that the camera is off confide that they think him innocent but that it is nevertheless necessary to relate to the procedure. He will spend eighteen months in prison before being acquitted at first instance and then definitively on appeal.

M. has spent more than four years in prison: sentenced to eighteen years of criminal imprisonment at first instance, he has just been acquitted on appeal. "The ambiguous statements of the accused at the end of police custody, which were viewed, cannot be considered as an acknowledgment of the facts," the court said. More than a hundred times, notes

Mediapart

, he will proclaim his innocence, repeating that he was not at the scene. So many mentions that do not appear in the report. Just as the protrusions of some investigators towards him are not mentioned. “It was harassment, it was terrible, half of the room had tears in their eyes at the images of this kid in distress, insulted, threatened by these police officers”, recalls Me Sarah Mauger-Poliak. At the end of ten hours of hearing, he will finally let go: “In my head, I am convinced that I did not have the attack. "

"The transcription was not complete but on the merits, nothing was changed", assures Me Laurent-Franck Liénard, the lawyer of one of the wounded police officers who regrets that the discredit is cast on the national police, " victim in this case ”.

And the council to recall that the investigation was carried out under the leadership of two investigating judges.

“There were multiple hearings, they were accompanied by their lawyers, they had multiple opportunities to proclaim their innocence.

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