Two police officers from the Saint-Avold brigade (Moselle) tried for having placed a bug in the vehicle of a colleague, who then committed suicide, were sentenced to suspended prison sentences by the Court of Appeal of Metz, we learned on Saturday from the lawyer for the parents of the deceased.

The two agents were sentenced on August 16 for "invasion of privacy by capturing, recording or transmitting a person's words".

The peacekeeper who had placed the informer in the vehicle of the victim and his partner was given an 8-month suspended prison sentence, while the chief brigadier who had incited him to do so and then denounced the remarks made by his colleagues was also sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended.

Posted to the night brigade at the Saint-Avold police station, Hervé Hinschberger, 46, had ended his life with his service weapon on January 21, 2018, near a pond, in Puttelange-aux-Lacs.

His parents had filed a complaint for "moral harassment at work and invasion of privacy by capturing, recording or transmitting words".

“A deleterious climate”

A preliminary investigation, opened the following month by the Sarreguemines prosecutor's office and entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), had ruled out moral harassment.

According to the elements of the procedure, the accused chief brigadier suspected Hinschberger and his partner of having had his professional card blocked.

A few weeks before the suicide of the policeman, he had placed a bug in the patrol vehicle of Major Hinschberger and his partner.

In “a deleterious climate” between the neighboring police stations of Saint-Avold and Freyming-Merlebach, “the recording of about fifteen hours without his knowledge was such a trauma that it contributed to his fatal gesture.

He felt betrayed, suspected ”, had advanced in first instance Me Rondu.

In October 2019, the Sarreguemines criminal court had initially released the defendants.

But the parents of the deceased and the general prosecutor's office had appealed.

Me Dominique Rondu told AFP on Saturday that his clients “consider that the actions of the convicts contributed to the suicide of their son”, specifying that they were considering “taking action against the administration for accountability to the service (…) due to errors of command and management”.

The two defendants appealed to the Court of Cassation, according to the lawyer for the civil parties.

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