The Paris administrative court annulled in mid-April two administrative sanctions from the Police Prefecture against a police officer who had denounced mistreatment and racist comments at the capital’s judicial court, according to the decision consulted on Friday April 26 by Agence France -Press (AFP).
In July 2020, Streetpress revealed the testimony of Chief Brigadier Amar Benmohamed according to whom “more than 1,000 defendants” had been “mistreated” between March 2017 and mid-2019 at the depot where he was stationed and where people waiting are held to be presented to justice. He had denounced insults, racist remarks or mistreatment by some of his police colleagues towards detainees.
Mr. Benmohamed, who had reported these facts internally, himself received an administrative warning in 2021, his superiors accusing him of reporting too late and the absence of the names of certain colleagues who reported the incidents to him. On May 30, 2023, a reprimand was inflicted on him by the police prefect “for harm to the credit and reputation of the national police, breach of the duty of obedience and the duty of reserve, breach of the duty of loyalty and breach of the duty of realize “.
A procedure for harassment
According to the administrative court in its decision of April 12, the police prefect did not provide proof that this sanction is “justified by objective elements” external to Amar Benmohamed’s declaration which “constituted an alert” . “Mr. Benmohamed is justified in requesting the cancellation” of the sanctions decided by the police prefect, it is added.
“The administrative and judicial harassment of a whistleblower on racism and violence committed at the Paris courthouse depot, which emanates from the Minister of the Interior and the Paris Police Prefect, is heavily sanctioned by the courts administrative”, reacted to AFP Me Arié Alimi, the police officer’s lawyer. “An investigation procedure for harassment is underway,” he added.
The investigation into accusations of mistreatment and racist comments at the depot was closed in January 2022.
