(Washington) Three police officers prosecuted for the beating that led to the death of a young African-American, Tyre Nichols, in January 2023 in Memphis, in the southern United States, appeared Monday for the first day of their federal trial.
The case, which sparked a national outcry, forcing the White House to react, had raised fears of a conflagration after the release of videos of the arrest in Memphis of Tyre Nichols, 29, who was beaten relentlessly by five police officers, also black. He died three days later in hospital.
The trial, which is expected to last several weeks, opened Monday with the jury selection process delayed by the consideration of pretrial motions, local media reported.
In total, five officers who were fired and indicted by the state of Tennessee were also indicted federally by a grand jury in September 2023 on four counts. Two of them have since pleaded guilty, in November and again in August.
The five men will then be tried by the Tennessee courts.
More than four years after the death of George Floyd, another African-American killed during a police intervention, which sparked a wave of global emotion and vast anti-racist demonstrations, the United States is still experiencing numerous cases of police violence.