A judge will investigate charges of "torture by person responsible for public authority", six months after the complaint of one of the young people arrested in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) in late 2018, during clashes on the sidelines of high school disputes, we learned Monday from concordant sources.
Aged between 12 and 21, 151 young people were brought to their knees, head down, hands on their heads and held in respect by the police, some for several hours. "This is a class that is wise," said a police officer filming the scene, whose video broadcast on social networks had caused an uproar. Most of these young people had been placed in police custody and then released with a reminder of the law.
Complaint with constitution of civil party
This opening of judicial information follows the complaint with constitution of civil party filed against X at the beginning of December 2019 by one of the young people, explained to AFP his lawyer Arié Alimi. The appointment of an investigating judge was requested in March by the Nanterre prosecution, said the latter.
The investigation is also opened for “torture of a 15-year-old minor, arbitrary violation of liberty by a person holding public authority, aggravated violence” and “dissemination without his consent of an identifiable person handcuffed and criminally challenged” , added the parquet.
After the facts, several families and the high school student union UNL immediately lodged a complaint for "police violence", but the preliminary investigation, entrusted to the IGPN, the "police force", led to a dismissal in July 2019.
The UNL and a group of families had therefore decided to file a complaint with a civil party to obtain the opening of an investigation. At least one of the complainants has now done so.
"The first thing we will ask is the hearing of 151 high school students as witnesses," said Alimi, who defends the interests of fifteen of them.
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