"He is a bit dejected, he does not wish to speak to anyone for the moment ..." On the phone, Eléonore Luhaka, Théo's big sister, warns. The young man of 25 years will not hang up, will not call back. Stunned, when he has just learned that - except for a dramatic change - "his" lawyer, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the man with 120 acquittals, just named Keeper of the Seals, will therefore probably not be able to plead at trial opposing him to the police accused of having seriously injured him three years ago. This could occur in late 2020 or early 2021,
Handicapped for life after being injured in the anus by a blow with a baton, during a police check in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), Théodore Luhaka, known as "Théo", has become a symbol police violence. And his lawyer, his "bulwark", recently declared the young man to "Parisian / Today in France", on the sidelines of an interview on his musical projects.
"My best chance for justice"
"It is my best chance to obtain justice one day," he said recently. Even planning to find solutions to raise funds dedicated to other victims of police violence, and allow them, too, to be "supported by a real tenor of the bar".
“Because Eric Dupond-Moretti, when you have it in your camp, you put a lot of chances on your side to win. If it were not my lawyer, I would be much more worried in view of the trial: in my opinion, it is a bulwark against injustice ", explained still recently the young man, whose morale, since the affair, "Play roller coasters". At the moment, it is at its lowest.
Podcast. Eric Dupond-Moretti: number one lawyer
Elénore Luhaka, who said straight away “not knowing how to position herself” on the appointment of the lawyer to the post of Minister of Justice… ends up abounding. "Yes, that's right, we would have preferred it to be him, because we know he's the best!" He has the stature in front of all those who attack my little brother… ”
So she thinks Theo "saw this as an abandonment". And adds: "We must not forget that Eric Dupond-Moretti accompanied Theo in many hearings in front of the police, he entered the police stations with him ... So, my brother saw how he behaved in front of the police. He is not afraid of being respected, and it is logically very reassuring for someone who has suffered police violence ... ”
Law firms have already tried to "seduce" the young man
Thus, in March 2018, at the Union of police commissioners who demanded an "apology" at Théo camp, estimating that some video surveillance images showing him resisting the blows carried out by the police exonerated the latter, Eric Dupond-Moretti had sharply replicated.
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First insisting on the seriousness of the injury caused to the young man with the virgin locker, a "baton blow having led to a bursting of the perianal region, creating its own orifice in the body of young Theo". Then tackling the police unions on their propensity to want to do justice "before justice", he said: "No, the police will have no excuses. On the contrary, it would be up to her to present them. "
Mickaël, the big brother, tempers the gravity of this news. “I would remind you that, alongside Eric Dupond-Moretti, there is another very great lawyer: Maître Antoine Vey! Even if, obviously, we experienced the announcement of his appointment to the ministry as ... a surprise. It is his choice, but who could refuse such a position? It may not be him to defend Théo, unfortunately, we suspect it. But… we do with it, ”says the young man's brother. He also recalls that "the facts, the images of the police check, as well as the medical diagnosis, have not changed".
In the coming days, Theo and his entourage must, at the request of the Dupond-Moretti-Vey cabinet, "schedule an appointment" to find out what to do, and develop their defense strategy without the tenor.
In the meantime, some are trying to take his place to defend Theo's interests: according to our information, between last night and this afternoon, several recognized Parisian law firms have already tried to attract the young man into their nets.