The Bordeaux Court of Appeal on Thursday canceled for irregularities the investigation targeting 16 people presented as "
black blocs
" suspected of having prepared violent actions during a demonstration of "
yellow vests
" in December 2019, indicated Friday March 19, a source close to the matter.
To read also: "yellow vests" tempted by the Elysee
The 16 people, now aged 21 to 46, were arrested on Saturday, December 7, 2019 in a house rented on AirBnB in Bouscat, in the affluent suburb of Bordeaux.
A major police operation had been carried out shortly before a demonstration in the Gironde capital, a former bastion of "
yellow vests
" marked, between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, by violent clashes.
In the house, the police had discovered material intended to make "
homemade projectiles and explosives
": hydrochloric acid, laces to make wicks, nails ... The suspects had explained that they wanted to go to the demonstration but had contested any violent intention.
Presented as "
black blocs
" or "
ultra-yellows
", mostly from other departments, they had been indicted for "
degradation in a meeting
" and "
criminal association with a view to committing degradation and violence on persons holding public authority
”.
A procedure now emptied of its substance after a setback inflicted by the investigating chamber of the court of appeal.
In this judgment which AFP was aware of, the magistrates seized of the defense appeals ordered the lifting of judicial controls and "
the annulment of the entire procedure
" (except a report), ruling that the procedure was illegal.
The case started with the discovery, on the night of December 6 to 7, of “
ACAB
” (“
All cops are Bastards
”)
tags
, all fresh, on the walls of Bouscat.
"
A comparison
" was then made between these tags and "
the sending for several days of anonymous letters (...) to CRS threatening the lives of these police officers and their families
", explained at the time the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the police had been informed of the meeting of a group of "
black blocks
" in Bouscat, 1.5 km from the tags.
To read also: "Yellow vests": two police officers indicted for violence, including the dislocation of Jérôme Rodrigues
This "
anonymous denunciation
", associated with the context of written threats, was to lead the police to suspect the group of being "
the perpetrators of the
nightly
degradations and outrages
" and "
also
" the "
members of a criminal association formed with a view to committing abuses
”during the demonstration, according to a police report quoted by the court of appeal.
On the basis of these suspicions, an investigation of flagrance, which gives wide powers to the police, had then been opened of these leaders.
Problem for the Court of Appeal: this procedure was illegal because it was based on an "
anonymous denunciation
" which "
could not constitute an apparent indication of criminal behavior
" justifying the implementation of "
coercive measures
" - the search followed by arrests.
"
It is in fact on the basis of simple information gathered during an environmental investigation, the origin of which has not been communicated and the content of which has not been recorded
", that the investigation was launched, underline the magistrates.
The link between the tags and the occupants "
denounced as black blocs
", "
was only a simple conjecture
", they say.
Before adding: the material discovered at Bouscat is not "
likely to confer a posteriori a regular character to highly coercive measures
".
“
This capital judgment (...) comes to sanction in a certain way the will of omnipotence of the police force.
He reminds us that the police did not have the right, even with the agreement of the prosecution, to carry out a search on the basis of unsubstantiated and unfounded suspicions.
What happened in Bordeaux is a reflection of the police and judicial treatment of yellow vests
, ”responded Me Raphaël Kempf, one of the lawyers in the case with his colleagues Gabriel Lassort, Alice Becker and Xavier Sauvignet.
