Three French police officers who two years ago arrested a young man who later died in custody, sparking violent protests in Paris suburbs, have been given the status of special witnesses and not defendants as the man's family had demanded.
The investigating magistrate decided to make the officers "assisted witnesses" after questioning them this week for the first time about the detention of 24-year-old Adama Traore on July 19, 2016.
That status, which in French law sits between being a simple witness and someone who has been indicted, means the magistrate did not directly regard them as having committed a crime.
The decision will do little to defuse the distrust towards authorities repeatedly expressed by Traore's family and some in the local community.
Hundreds of youths in the tough northern Paris suburbs around where he had lived rampaged in protest for five nights after his death, clashing with police and setting vehicles on fire.
The anger at the time was fuelled by a delay in officials announcing that Traore had died in custody 90 minutes after his arrest, and the fact that he was still handcuffed when paramedics arrived.
An initial autopsy suggesting Traore had been suffering heart disease and an infection was later rejected by medical experts.
The officers' legal team said in a statement Thursday that the magistrate's decision stemmed from "the absence of serious and corroborating evidence" that the policemen had not attempted to help Traore.
"The dossier shows that they called for paramedics with rapidity and diligence and that they gave assistance to Mr Traore," they asserted.
"The theory of deliberate violence leading to the involuntary death of Mr Traore is discarded," they wrote.
- Rare disease -
The hearings before the magistrate on Tuesday and Wednesday followed a September forensic report that determined that Traore had been suffering Sickle cell disease, a rare genetic blood disorder. The report said that would explain asphyxiation in a moment of stress and after strenuous activity.
Traore, who had no criminal record, was apprehended after leading police on a 15-minute chase in high temperatures in the suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise. The officers pinned him to the ground with the weight of their bodies.
He lost consciousness in their vehicle and died while in the courtyard of a police station in the nearby town of Persan.
Paramedics gave contradictory accounts as to whether Traore was in the foetal position when they arrived, which might indicate whether he received first aid or not.
Three French police officers who two years ago arrested a young man who later died in custody, sparking violent protests in Paris suburbs, have been given the status of special witnesses and not defendants as the man’s family had demanded.
The investigating magistrate decided to make the officers “assisted witnesses” after questioning them this week for the first time about the detention of 24-year-old Adama Traore on July 19, 2016.
That status, which in French law sits between being a simple witness and someone who has been indicted, means the magistrate did not directly regard them as having committed a crime.
The decision will do little to defuse the distrust towards authorities repeatedly expressed by Traore’s family and some in the local community.
Hundreds of youths in the tough northern Paris suburbs around where he had lived rampaged in protest for five nights after his death, clashing with police and setting vehicles on fire.
The anger at the time was fuelled by a delay in officials announcing that Traore had died in custody 90 minutes after his arrest, and the fact that he was still handcuffed when paramedics arrived.
An initial autopsy suggesting Traore had been suffering heart disease and an infection was later rejected by medical experts.
The officers’ legal team said in a statement Thursday that the magistrate’s decision stemmed from “the absence of serious and corroborating evidence” that the policemen had not attempted to help Traore.
“The dossier shows that they called for paramedics with rapidity and diligence and that they gave assistance to Mr Traore,” they asserted.
“The theory of deliberate violence leading to the involuntary death of Mr Traore is discarded,” they wrote.
– Rare disease –
The hearings before the magistrate on Tuesday and Wednesday followed a September forensic report that determined that Traore had been suffering Sickle cell disease, a rare genetic blood disorder. The report said that would explain asphyxiation in a moment of stress and after strenuous activity.
Traore, who had no criminal record, was apprehended after leading police on a 15-minute chase in high temperatures in the suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise. The officers pinned him to the ground with the weight of their bodies.
He lost consciousness in their vehicle and died while in the courtyard of a police station in the nearby town of Persan.
Paramedics gave contradictory accounts as to whether Traore was in the foetal position when they arrived, which might indicate whether he received first aid or not.
