The four police officers indicted for the beating of music producer Michel Zecler will benefit from "
functional protection
",
Le Figaro
learned
Tuesday, December 8 from the Paris police headquarters, confirming information from
Liberation
.
This system involves the payment of their legal costs by the public authority.
Read also: Why the police fail to control the thugs
“
Functional protection
” is granted to an official when he is the subject of prosecution “
in the context of his duties,
” said the Paris police headquarters.
This protection “
may not be maintained
” thereafter, depending on the findings of ongoing administrative inquiries.
"
After filing a file by the agent, the hierarchy must decide whether or not the facts constitute a personal fault which would deprive him of this protection
", explained the prefecture.
In a file dedicated to functional protection, service-public.fr specifies that it is a matter of personal fault if the act in question “
is detached from the function by the inexcusable nature of the behavior of the agent with regard to ethical rules or by the intention behind it.
These are acts incompatible with the public service, even if they are committed during the service, revealing the man in a private capacity, for example, a crime committed in the workplace
”.
Darmanin "
advised
" of this measure
According to the UNSA Police union, the decision would come from the police chief Didier Lallement.
"
Although thrown in the pasture by the media sphere, the police chief grants to our colleagues of the police station of the XVIIe arrondissement of Paris the functional protection
", writes the trade union organization for which the act symbolizes the recognition of the "
presumption of innocence
”.
And according to
Liberation
, which quotes the entourage of the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin would have been
"advised"
of this measure.
Three police officers, suspected of having beaten up the music producer Michel Zecler in his studio in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, were indicted Sunday for "
willful violence by a person holding public authority (PDAP)
", with several aggravating circumstances including that of racism, and for "
forgery in public writing
" by PDAP, a crime punishable by assizes.
A fourth policeman, suspected of having thrown a tear gas canister in the music studio, was indicted mainly for “
willful violence by a person holding public authority
”.
The case was revealed by CCTV footage from the music studio, unveiled by online media Loopsider, which contradicted the initial police report of the arrest.
The head of state Emmanuel Macron said his "
shame
" and the agents, who admitted during their police custody that "
the blows were not justified
", were suspended.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has promised their "
revocation
" "as
soon as the facts are established by justice
".
Two of these four police officers were remanded in custody, while the other two were placed under judicial supervision.
»SEE ALSO - Producer beaten up by police officers: video surveillance images from his studio