In the case of the beating of the black producer in Paris, the four police officers involved were brought to justice on Sunday at midday.

They are targeted by an investigation opened Tuesday by the prosecution for "willful violence by a person holding public authority" with the aggravating circumstance of "racism".

The four police officers involved in the beating of a black music producer were brought to justice on Sunday at midday, AFP learned from a source close to the case.

The four men, who had been taken into custody in the premises of the General Inspectorate of Police (IGPN), are targeted by an investigation opened Tuesday by the prosecution for "willful violence by a person holding public authority" with the aggravating circumstance of "racism", and "forgery in public writing".

Possible prosecutions

Three days after the outbreak of this scandal and in a tense political context for the government, the Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz held a press conference at 5:00 p.m. to announce possible prosecutions against the four police officers.

Sunday, in the middle of the day, after two days in police custody at the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN, the "police police") the four men were transferred to the Paris judicial court for their defense, a source close to the matter told AFP.

They will either appear before a magistrate of the Paris prosecutor's office, who could for example decide on an immediate appearance or a deferred summons before the judicial court, or before an examining magistrate if the prosecutor decides to open a judicial investigation. .

A "forgery in public writing" by a person holding public authority is a crime, which makes the opening of compulsory judicial information in the matter highly probable, even if this offense usually leads to a trial which is held before a criminal court and not before the assizes.

Video broadcast by Loopsider

The broadcast on Thursday by the Loopsider site of Michel Zecler's video created a scandal.

We see the music producer beaten for several minutes in his music studio Saturday, November 21 in Paris by three police officers, before a fourth comes to throw a tear gas canister from outside inside the room.

In a second video released on Friday, Mr Zecler is seen being beaten again in the street, once checked out of the studio, and surrounded by numerous other police officers who do not appear to prevent the further beatings.

At this stage, it was not possible to know whether these other police officers had already been interviewed by the IGPN.

Michel Zecler claimed to have been insulted several times as a "dirty nigger".

According to Le Parisien, police officers in custody contested any racist dimension to their attitude.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced Thursday "the dismissal" of the police officers involved, "as soon as the facts are established by justice".

He accused them of having "soiled the uniform of the Republic".

 "Shame"

The press conference of Mr. Heitz, who on Thursday described this case as "extremely important", comes the day after a strong mobilization in a hundred cities of France against the law "global security" and police violence .

More than 130,000 people demonstrated, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 500,000 according to the organizers, in a generally friendly atmosphere.

However, sometimes violent clashes have punctuated certain demonstrations, especially in Paris.


Emmanuel Macron said Friday his "shame" at the images of the beating of Michel Zecler, among the most viral in 2020 in terms of information.