The judge of Nanterre in charge of investigating accusations of "torture" after the arrest of 151 high school students put on their knees and hands on the head at the end of 2018 in Mantes-la-Jolie, estimated to be incompetent and asked for the dismissal of the case to the jurisdiction of Versailles, AFP learned Thursday from concordant sources. This instruction had been opened for "torture by a person holding public authority" after a complaint filed by one of the students at the end of 2019.
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A first preliminary investigation, finally closed without follow-up in July 2019, had already been disoriented in Nanterre. A decision "amply justified by the possible implication of the public prosecutor and the prefect of Yvelines in the extremely serious and shocking facts committed on these minors" , had then estimated Me Arié Alimi, the lawyer of a plaintiff. In December 2018, 151 young people aged 12 to 21 were arrested in Mantes-la-Jolie on the sidelines of a national mobilization of high school students.
The video of their arrest, knees on the ground and hands on the head, caused an uproar. At the end of their police custody, most of them received simple reminders of the law. The investigation into the police's actions had been relaunched in December 2019, by the complaint of a young high school student with civil action in Nanterre, leading to the appointment of an investigating judge in March to lead the investigation. This judge therefore considered herself to be territorially incompetent, inviting the complainant to relaunch this procedure in Versailles, according to the order consulted by AFP.
"They do not want to investigate this case," reacted to AFP Me Arié Alimi, who indicated a forthcoming call for this order. "We are going to file the complaint with constitution of civil party in Versailles and ask for a new expatriation" , added the lawyer. The Nanterre public prosecutor's office has also indicated that it is appealing this order and wishes to keep the file in its jurisdiction.