Gwendal Leroy, 27, participated in act 10 of the yellow vests on January 19 in Rennes when he was hit in the eye by a grenade shot.

-

Fred Tanneau / AFP

The investigating magistrate had not seen fit to prosecute him.

A year later, the investigating chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal reversed this decision and indicted a police officer for "involuntary injuries".

He is suspected of having thrown a desensitization grenade which had hit a demonstrator during a rally of “yellow vests” organized on January 19, 2019 in Rennes.

That day, 27-year-old Gwendal Leroy lost an eye as he left the protest.

He had filed a complaint against X and against the State.

The prosecution opened a judicial investigation on December 27, 2019 but the police officer had not been prosecuted.

It took a call from the prosecution for the investigative chamber of the court of appeal to overturn this order on October 2, 2020. The public prosecutor confirmed this Thursday, adding that the judicial investigation was continuing.

"No police or gendarme responsibility will be sold off, but none will be evaded," said the prosecutor in an email.

"I saw a flash, an explosion, violent"

Four months after his mutilation, this professional forklift driver had recounted his experience, confident that he had the feeling that he had lost his “right to demonstrate” that day.

“It was time to go home, we had two hours away.

And going up the street, arrived at the level of the bus stops, I heard a grenade land at my feet.

We hear the noise, we turn around and so there I saw a flash, an explosion, violent, ”he said.

“I felt something hit my face.

So I didn't think I had lost the use of the eye yet, I felt it was like a punch, he recalled.

It was the next day that I learned that I had lost the use of my eye.

"

Already in Rennes, a student lost an eye during a demonstration against the Labor law in 2016. Jean-François Martin had been hit by an LBD shot.

Society

Maintaining order: A parliamentary report recommends banning the LBD in demonstration

Society

Student stranded in Rennes: The Defender of Rights requests prosecution against two police officers

  • Society

  • Eye

  • Police

  • Police violence

  • Yellow vests

  • Grenoble

  • Demonstration

  • Reindeer

  • Justice