The hearing is being watched very closely. Thursday, August 3, the police officer of the BAC Sud Nuit de Marseille who was placed in pre-trial detention in a case of violence against a young man, Hedi R., admitted a shot from a defense ball launcher (LBD).
White t-shirt, shaved head, this policeman who has fourteen years of seniority in the anti-crime brigade (BAC), wished to make spontaneous statements before the investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Court of Appeal. Provence, who must decide whether or not to keep him in pre-trial detention: “I want to explain myself to the facts. »
He describes the scene, which took place on the night of July 1 to 2 in Marseille, then the scene of riots: “We had been instructed to restore order” and “I saw two hooded individuals” with “several movements the nature of which I could not determine, suggesting that an altercation was in progress”. He says he saw an individual come out of the dark and thinks he is carrying a projectile. That’s when he “made the decision to use LBD once,” the officer said. But “did that shot hit Hedi?” “, then asked his lawyer, Me Pierre Gassend. “Nothing proves [it],” he says. The policeman insists: “I saw that everyone was standing” and “obviously if a person had been unconscious on the ground or with serious injuries, they would have been taken care of immediately”.
Although the Advocate General believes that the police officer’s statements provide “perspective”, the risk of “fraudulent conspiracy” is to be taken into account, and pre-trial detention is required in order to “preserve the information until questioning scheduled for August 30. The Marseille BAC policeman’s lawyer had requested the release of his client, believing that there was “no risk” that he would put pressure on the victim, and stressing that he could be accommodated far away from Marseille.
The hearing began shortly after 8:30 a.m. The policeman asked that it be held behind closed doors, but the investigating chamber did not accede to this request. The decision will be made at 4 p.m. The request of another police officer indicted in this case, who wishes the end of his judicial review, will be examined behind closed doors during the day.
Four police officers charged
Hedi R., 22, required emergency surgery after being seriously injured. In all, four police officers were indicted for acts of “intentional violence in a meeting with the use or threat of a weapon” by persons vested with public authority.
In addition to the police officer placed in pre-trial detention for two weeks, three others were placed under judicial control with “prohibition to come into contact with the co-perpetrators, the victim and the other protagonists, and prohibition to exercise the professional activity of civil servant of police “.
This incarceration provoked a wave of anger among the police in July, and the director general of the national police, Frédéric Veaux, gave his support to the profession by stating that “before a possible trial a police officer has no place in prison “.