Slap, insults, threats… Two police officers tried for violence against a student

Two Brav-M police officers are being tried this Thursday for violence by a person holding authority. public. The events took place in March 2023 on the sidelines of a demonstration against pension reform.

Two police officers from the Brav-M, the Brigade for the repression of violent motorized action, are being tried this Thursday, March 7 at Bobigny. They are accused of violence and threats against people. with regard to a young man of 23, named Souleyman. The facts occurred on March 20, on the sidelines of the demonstration against the pension reform. the event, told have been é hit and put on the ground by the two police officers. He would then have beené grouped together with others arrested before receiving a slap from one of the agents. This would be followed by insults and threats. 

One of the arrested took a film of the scene. without their knowledge and the images were revealed by Loopsider a few days later late. In the recording, racist remarks are audible: “Four years that you've been in France? That's a lotça! (…) How did you travel to Chad? by sea to Spain?". From BFMTV, the victim had even mentioned; a sexual assault, accusing one of the police officers of having grabbed him. by the private parts.

Souleyman was é released the next day, without legal proceedings but then brought complaint against the police officers. The remarks of the latter were also reported. deemed unacceptable by the head of the IGPN. If they were' identified, they were not identified. suspended from their function. In their defense, if they admitted to having made inappropriate comments, the police had put forward several days of work without rest and one of them had accused the young man of "provocation". 

The representatives of the police will finally be tried this Thursday for violence by a person holding authority. public violence and repeated threats the exclusion of any other offense or aggravating circumstance. The charges of sexual assault and racist insults were thus not prosecuted. retained, a choice that the plaintiff's lawyer regrets. Franceinfo also estimated that the hearing would have a strong chance of being postponed. According to Arié Alimi, lawyer for the plaintiff, "the prosecutor of the Republic of Bobigny protectedé the majority police officers by prosecuting only two officials for a tiny part of the offenses. This is why we are going to do the job at hand. his place, completing the proceedings. It is unacceptable that in cases of police violence, particularly committed by members of the Brav-M, the prosecution's sole role is to protect, as far as possible, the violent, racist and sexist acts that they commit.

If these arguments are deemed admissible, the court will set a new hearing date, giving time to examine these new requests. In addition, according to article 222-13 of the Penal Code, violence committed by a person holding authority can be punished. public can result in a penalty of up to 50%. three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.