The images had been described as "shocking" by the Minister of Education. Adolescents and young adults, kneeling, hands on their heads, held in check by the police, sometimes for several hours. The scene - filmed by one of the officials - took place in Mantes-la-Jolie, in the Yvelines, on December 6, 2018. On that day, 151 young people, aged 12 to 21, were arrested by forces of the order, suspected of having taken part in violence on the sidelines of a high school student demonstration. Most have received a simple reminder of the law. Nearly a year and a half later, an investigating judge was appointed by the Nanterre prosecution (the case was quickly relocated) to investigate, among other things, accusations of "torture by person responsible for the investigation". 'public authority' and 'torture of minors aged 15'.
Automatic referral to an examining magistrate
"It has been a long way, we have been asking for an investigating judge to look into these facts for a year", said Me Arié Alimi, the lawyer for one of the students. In December 2018, a preliminary investigation had been opened by the Nanterre prosecution and the investigations entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the police force. Five months later, the case was closed. "The fact of retaining those arrested in a kneeling or sitting position, hampered for some of them, appears justified by the exceptional context of serious urban violence and the number of people to be taken to police stations, requiring an organization incompressible material, "said the prosecution. The council had strongly criticized, in particular in our columns, the lack of independence of the parquet floor which strives "to protect the police officers".
A few days later, the high school student union UNL and then, in December 2019, one of the high school students, had filed a complaint against X with the dean of the examining magistrates of Nanterre with constitution of civil party for, in addition to the acts of torture, “aggravated violence "," Arbitrary interference with liberty by a person holding public authority "and" dissemination without his consent of an identifiable person handcuffed and challenged in criminal proceedings ". This procedure automatically leads to the opening of judicial information - and therefore the referral to an investigating judge - for facts of a criminal nature.
Are the facts torture?
That is what the investigation will have to determine. The scope of this judicial information precisely takes up the terms of the complaint. Clearly: if the judicial information was opened for acts of torture, it is because these are mentioned by the student. “In general, it is very rare that at the start of a judicial inquiry, the facts are reclassified. We prefer to start from the top and then tighten if necessary, ”specifies a judicial source. The nature of the case could thus be reassessed in the light of the investigations.
For Arié Alimi, the adolescent's lawyer, the question of torture is, however, beyond legal doubt. “It may not be torture as we usually imagine, but European law is very specific on this notion: acts of torture and barbarity depend on the sensitivity of the person. The council highlights the psychological aspect of the trauma suffered by these adolescents: some of them stayed for several hours on their knees, hands on their heads, in the cold. "Add to that that for many, it was the first time that they had to deal with the police, that they were humiliated, that leaves traces," insists the lawyer.
New civil parties?
If for now, only one of the arrested Mantes-la-Jolie has filed a complaint, others could join the procedure in the days or weeks to come. "It is still too early to know how many wish to invest in this procedure, some want to turn the page," said the lawyer. He nevertheless hopes that the 151 people arrested on December 6, 2018 will be summoned to be heard as a civil party or witness. “During the preliminary investigation which led to a dismissal, only three of them had been heard by the IGPN. When I protested this, the prosecutor told me that it was enough to understand what had happened that day, ”laments Arié Alimi. Confinement could however slow down investigations.
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High school students arrested in Mantes-la-Jolie: "What happened is worse than what we saw on video"
- Justice
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- Police violence
- Paris