Three white men are on trial from Monday, October 18 for the murder of young black jogger Ahmaud Arbery who, despite the efforts of local justice to cover up the case, had scandalized America and fueled the major anti-racist demonstrations of the summer 2020.
The trial of Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis, 35, and one of their neighbors, William Bryan, 52, will begin with the selection of jurors in a Georgia state court in Brunswick.
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was jogging in this coastal town in the southern United States, when he was chased by the three men.
The father and his son, armed, were in the same pick-up, while their neighbor followed them in his own vehicle while filming the scene.
After an altercation, young McMichael opened fire and killed the jogger.
>> To read: Black Lives Matter: Ahmaud Arbery "would never have imagined that her life would come to a halt"
The three men then claimed to have mistaken him for a burglar active in the area and had invoked a law in Georgia allowing ordinary citizens to make arrests.
For nearly three months, the services of the local prosecutor, for whom Gregory McMichael, a retired police officer, had worked for a long time, had not ordered any arrests.
It took the broadcast of the video of the drama, relayed massively on social networks in early May 2020 for the investigation to be entrusted to the state police.
Shortly after, the three men were arrested and charged with "murder" and "false arrest".
The death of George Floyd, a few days later, under the knee of a white policeman, had reignited the debate on violence against African-Americans and the name of Ahmaud Arbery had resounded in the processions which hatched in all the United States until the end of summer.
Frescoes, slogans, portraits: the young jogger has become an emblematic figure of the Black Lives Matter movement (black lives matter).
"A black man should be able to jog without fearing for his life," Democratic President Joe Biden even tweeted on the first anniversary of his death.
"Lynch"
Given the extreme media coverage of the case, the selection of jurors will last several days.
The defendants are then expected to plead self-defense, arguing that Ahmaud Arbery has resisted lawful arrest.
Prosecutors should insist that the young man was unarmed and that nothing links him to a series of burglaries that took place in the neighborhood where he was running.
Lawyer Ben Crump, a specialist in police violence cases, hoped that the court rejects the "tactics" of the defendants.
"If these killers get away with it, that would mean that lynching black men in 2021 is of no consequence."
>> To see: Black Lives Matter: in the United States, Ahmaud Arbery, victim of ordinary racism
Since the tragedy, the state of Georgia has passed a law punishing racist crimes and abolished the law that allowed citizens to make arrests.
But at the time of the facts, she had no legal mechanism to take into account racist motives.
To fill this void, the federal justice intervened and indicted the three men of racist crime.
This aspect will be the subject of another trial in federal court in February.
In addition, Ahmaud Arbery's mother has filed a civil lawsuit and claims a million dollars in compensation.
It targets the McMichaels and William Bryans, but also local police and prosecutors accused of wanting to cover up the case.
Rarer: One of the local prosecutors, Jackie Johnson, was indicted in September for violating her oath of office.
According to the indictment, she "showed favor and affection" to Gregory McMichael, who worked for a long time in her department, and ordered the police officers in charge of the investigations not to arrest her son.
With AFP
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