The lawyer indicates that these clients are “particularly happy”, but he criticizes the fact that “the prosecution has had to request for this investigation to be completed for a year” in the case of police violence that occurred in a Parisian Burger King during a “yellow vest” demonstration.
:quality(50)/2023/07/07/64a7df4c5fe71_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 2 min
:quality(50)/2024/08/01/080-hl-nguyonnet-2286442-66abdb89944ae708464243.jpg)
“We hope that the investigating judge will quickly refer these police officers to court and that a hearing will take place fairly quickly.”Arié Alimi told franceinfo on Thursday, August 1. The lawyer was responding to the Paris prosecutor’s office’s requisition, issued the day before, revealed by AFP and confirmed by franceinfo. The public prosecutor has requested a trial against nine CRS officers, suspected of aggravated intentional violence against at least four “yellow vests” and a journalist in a Burger King restaurant near the Champs-Élysées at the end of 2018. They are being prosecuted for “intentional violence by a person in a position of public authority”. In its final indictment, which franceinfo was able to consult, the public prosecutor accuses them of having “hit non-hostile demonstrators (…) without warning being given”.
“My clients and I are particularly pleased that the Paris public prosecutor’s office is finally requesting that these nine CRS officers be referred to the criminal court.”reacted Arié Alimi. However, while the investigations were closed on July 6, 2023, the lawyer criticizes the fact that “The prosecution has had to request this investigation to be completed for a year now.”.
This case is symbolic of the “yellow vests”, which occurred during act 3, on December 1, 2018 around 7 p.m., on the sidelines of a demonstration that brought together 5,500 people in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The day was marked by numerous acts of violence and clashes. 412 arrests took place, leading to 318 placements in police custody. 263 injuries were recorded, including 23 for the police. At the Burger King near the Champs-Élysées, this violence was filmed by several journalists. The videos showed CRS violently beating demonstrators with batons, some of whom were lying on the ground.
“This is one of the first cases that revealed the existence and reality of police violence committed on a massive scale by Emmanuel Macron’s government.”says Arié Alimi. The latter now hopes that “the investigating judge quickly refers these police officers to court and a hearing takes place fairly quickly because the time taken to hold hearings also depends on the Paris public prosecutor’s office”The fear of the lawyer for two victims in this case is that the prosecution will take “all the time to delay and postpone indefinitely (this trial), as it unfortunately does too frequently in the context of police violence.”
Another lawyer for one of the five victims, civil parties in this case, Me Moad Nefati believes that this requisition “is excellent news”. However, he and the person he defends remain “on a mixed feeling, that of a justice which passes with forceps and in pain”.
The police officers’ lawyer, Laurent-Franck Liénard, could not be reached by franceinfo. After the opening of a judicial investigation on May 23, 2019, four CRS officers were indicted on June 23, 2020. On May 6, 2021, three other CRS officers were indicted. An eighth CRS officer was indicted on September 17, 2021. The last CRS officer was indicted on January 26, 2023. All were prosecuted for “intentional violence by a person in a position of public authority.”