“Some people should go behind bars,” says the father of the 17-year-old rugby player

Medhi Narjissi, a young U18 international from the French rugby team, has been missing since August 7 in South Africa, after being swept away by the waves during a recovery session by the sea with his teammates.

“Our life stopped on August 7th.” In a long interview given to The Team (paid article), Wednesday, September 18, Jalil Narjissi once again expressed his distress but also and above all his anger. More than a month after the disappearance of his son Medhi Narjissi, carried away by currents during a recovery session of the French U18 team on a beach near the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), the former player of Castres and Agen reaffirms his desire that “the truth be done” and that “those responsible should be tried and punished.”

“They [les membres du staff] can no longer frame” And “Some have to go behind bars, he asserts. I am very angry about the place where this disaster happened and everything that made it impossible to have a recovery session there. The people responsible for this disaster are not taking responsibility and are passing the buck. It is cowardice.”

For Jalil Narjissi, the report released on September 12 by the French Rugby Federation (FFR) following its internal investigation “has no value” because, among other things, of its “inconsistencies”. “What [importe]it is the judicial investigation”he decides. The father of the Stade Toulousain hopeful also questions the responsibility of the FFR, pointing out in particular the inaction of its president Florian Grill, who did not travel with the family to South Africa, to the scene of the tragedy.

“They are not the ones who put my son in the water, but they are responsible for these people, he confides. Of course I blame them. I hear their excuses, but nothing has been done properly, contrary to what some leaders say. We are the ones who are torn apart and devastated and who no longer sleep. I would have had a different speech towards the leaders of the Federation if they had put everything in place for support.”

While the family filed a complaint two weeks after the tragic disappearance of Medhi Narjissi, lawyer Victor Casellas states in The Teamthat “The investigating judge will do everything possible to ensure that things move quickly.” “But there is a problem with the qualification, he then specifies. For the moment, the procedural status is disappearance. The next step will really be the switch to involuntary manslaughter so that the investigating judge has full latitude.” In the meantime, Medhi’s family “Hold on, but it’s horrible”in the words of Jalil Narjissi.