After the book by an undercover journalist, a trial requested against a police officer for violence during an arrest in Paris

In this book, the journalist recounted having witnessed several “beatings” and testified to “racist” practices on the part of certain civil servants. One of them had been indicted in 2023 for violence by a person in a position of public authority.

A police officer has been ordered to stand trial for assaulting a minor during an arrest that was reported in the book. Cop, of undercover journalist Valentin Gendrot, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday July 24, confirming information from Mediapart.

In its final indictment signed on July 11, the public prosecutor “requested the referral to the criminal court of Marc F., a police officer at the time stationed at the 19th arrondissement police station, for intentional violence by a person in a position of public authority committed on April 12, 2019” to the detriment of a minor, the prosecution explained. It is now up to the investigating judge to decide whether or not to hold a trial.

A dismissal of the case was also requested. “concerning possible forgery, for which no one had been charged”he said. When contacted, Marc F.’s lawyer, who had been placed under the status of assisted witness in this section, did not respond immediately.

“Only one of the passages recounted in the book allowed us to find a procedure that could document police violence” during the arrest of a minor for rebellion and threats in 2019, according to the prosecution. The peace officer, now 36 years old, had filed a complaint for insulting and threatening a person in a position of public authority, leading to the minor being placed in police custody. At the same time, the latter, who presented “a hematoma on the left eyebrow and a right cervical excoriation”had denounced the violence committed by a police officer, according to the prosecution.

According to court documents consulted by AFP, Marc F. had contested certain blows alleged by Valentin Gendrot, but acknowledged a “percussion with the open hand” delivered to the teenager at the police station. In a clandestine recording made by the journalist at the time, we hear him talking about a “potato” with “the right fist”. Marc F. also admitted to pushing the minor “to force him to sit down when he refused”according to the final indictment.

After the publication of the book, the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) conducted an administrative investigation. In its report, it pointed out “professional failings and behavior contrary to police ethics”Marc F. had been given a three-day suspended suspension and three other officers had received reprimands, in particular for not having transcribed in the arrest report the blows received by the minor.