The Rennes prosecutor gave an update on Tuesday, during a press conference, on the investigations of which he was seized, after the clashes between demonstrators and police at the end of March.
While Gérald Darmanin explains to deputies and senators, Wednesday, April 5, on the recent clashes during law enforcement operations in recent weeks in France, the Rennes prosecutor announced Tuesday that he was seized of four procedures relating to demonstrators injured on March 25 during the rally in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) against the “mega-basin”. The vital prognosis of one of the four injured is still engaged.
“This type of verification is one of the fundamental elements that characterize liberal democracies, it is what is called a rule of law”, recalled the magistrate, Philippe Astruc. Its jurisdiction is specialized in military matters and therefore competent to investigate these facts. Here is what we know of the ongoing investigations and the situation of those injured.
A thirty-year-old whose vital prognosis is still engaged
This man is the most seriously injured to date and the one whose case has been the most documented in the press. This demonstrator, born in 1990, named Serge, is plunged into a coma and suffers from serious head trauma and a fractured vertebra, said the prosecutor, citing the forensic certificate and evoking a total incapacity to work (ITT) greater than 100 days. His vital prognosis is still engaged. According to a video survey of Release, mentioned by the prosecutor during his press conference, Serge could have been hit by a tear gas canister. It’s a “work hypothesis”, there is “not sure”, specified the magistrate, adding moreover that “two pebbles” had been found in the clothes of the injured.
inviting those who “could have videos or photos” events “to provide a copy”Philippe Astruc mentioned the white helmet worn by this demonstrator, still according to Release. A complaint against X for “attempted murder” and “obstructing the arrival of help” was filed by his family, represented by lawyer Chloé Chalot. A complaint for “violation of professional secrecy” and “misappropriation of information contained in a file of their purpose” was also filed after the disclosures in the press of elements on the judicial past and the S file of Serge.
Protester in his thirties released from coma
The other very seriously injured is named Mickaël. Born in 1988, he suffers from“a diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage, a hematoma on the lateral face of the neck and a fracture of the skull”, listed the prosecutor. According to the elements of forensic medicine, these “lesions are compatible with a blunt mechanism, without being able to precisely determine the exact nature of the injuring agent”. Again, the ITT was set at more than 100 days. According to his lawyer, also Chloé Chalot, Mickaël “would have come out of the coma and would have completed his recovery phase without it being possible at this stage to be assessed for any sequelae”, announced the magistrate. “A handcrafted object that comes in the form of an artifice” was found on him and will be appraised, added Philippe Astruc. His family also filed a complaint for “attempted murder” and “obstructing the arrival of help”.
A man in his twenties at risk of being permanently maimed
The third complaint, filed Monday morning by the same lawyer, concerns a man born in 1995, suffering from“recent bruises and erosions” as well as a “left foot trauma with bone crash”that the injured “attributed to a disencirclement grenade”detailed the representative of the prosecution.
According to the medical examiner, these injuries are “compatible with the ‘blast’ of a disencirclement grenade”. Disencirclement hand grenades (GMD), which project pieces of rubber, are classified in category A2 weapons, that of “war materials”. The protester is the subject of a provisional ITT of 60 days, with a risk of permanent mutilation, underlined the magistrate. His complaint was filed for “willful violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability by a person holding public authority and with a weapon”.
A 20-year-old woman with “very significant facial polytrauma”
This is the fourth procedure that the Rennes prosecutor has been seized by his counterpart from Niort, who was in charge of the investigations initially. This is a young woman born in 2003, for whom Philippe Astruc said he had “a special thought” because she has “unfortunately celebrated his 20th birthday this Saturday on his bed of suffering”. She is the victim of a “very significant facial polytrauma and leg injuries”. The facial injury “appears secondary to a blunt mechanism with strong synergy” and the lesions on the legs seem to be linked “to a perforating and erosive mechanism”, explained Philippe Astruc, without taking the risk of evoking the weapons that may be behind these traumas. The young woman also benefits from a 100-day ITT, to be reassessed, and is unable to speak, “his jaw having been mechanically stiffened by the doctors”. There is no complaint filed, at this stage, in this procedure.
A call for witnesses and more than 300 videos to analyze
Recalling that these four victims “have little or no criminal record”the prosecutor justified the opening of four different procedures, entrusted to the IGPN, by the fact that the results of the investigations will be “different according to the victims”. At this stage, except for Serge, “no precise data was collected” on “geographical position” demonstrators at the time of the injuries, argued the magistrate, announcing the launch of a call for witnesses, with a dedicated email address: [email protected]. Justice also seeks to collect the “maximum videos”, on the gendarmerie side but also on the demonstrators and observers side. Philippe Astruc calculated at “more than 300” the number of records to analyze and collect. Main objective: to determine the origin of injuries.
Recordings of telephone and radio communications between the Operations and Intelligence Center of the gendarmerie (Corg), firefighters and Samu were also seized. Several media, including franceinfo, relayed a registration of the Human Rights League of a telephone conversation between an Samu operator and a doctor. In particular, the investigation should “shed light on the modalities of the health care of the wounded”some accusing the police of having delayed the arrival of help on the spot.
Results of investigations not before “a few months”
Eight investigators are mobilized full-time on these investigations, which may require the opening of a judicial investigation, according to the prosecutor. The penal qualifications retained at this stage, namely “violence with ITT for more than eight days by a person holding public authority” and “non-assistance to a person in danger”, are likely to change depending on the elements collected in the framework of the investigation and the evolution of the state of health of the wounded, he acknowledged.
To clarify the origin of injuries, forensic chemical and ballistic analyzes will be entrusted to independent experts and the squadron leaders who commanded the law enforcement operation that day will be interviewed. The goal is to establish, once all the elements have been brought together, a “minute-by-minute cross timeline”. A job that will take “Several weeks”warned Philippe Astruc: “Judicial time is not media time, the results will not be known for a few months.” These results will then be “made public”.