The investigating judges in charge of the Adama Traoré case, who died in 2016 after his arrest by the gendarmes, ordered additional medical expertise, the investigators having collected new testimonies and medical elements, learned on Saturday. AFP from a source close to the case.
Read also: Riots trial after the death of Adama Traoré: his brother Bagui acquitted at the assizes
This supplement was requested on June 30 from the four Belgian doctors who had submitted a new report in January, supposed to settle the battle of contradictory expertises.
They had concluded that the death of this young man, on July 19, 2016 in the Persan barracks (Val-d'Oise), had been caused, on this day of heatwave, by a "heat stroke" which would not, however, have “
Probably
” would not have been fatal without his arrest under the weight of the three gendarmes.
This new witness who saw Adama Traoré breathless
Since then, investigators have finally been able to interview a direct witness in March, the man who had helped Adama Traoré to escape after a first arrest. “
Adama was out of breath. (...) I am not used to seeing him out of breath, but it is true that when I intervened, I was a little surprised to see him tired
”, declared this man, who knew from childhood.
“
It's like his body isn't responding. (...) For me, he was in an unusual state, he did not speak
, ”said this witness. This man added that Adama Traoré had left "
walking
", which was confirmed by two employees of the town hall who witnessed the scene. The gendarme, who had sprained his ankle in the fight with the two men, had not pursued him.
The investigators also seized Adama Traoré's file in occupational medicine, produced when he was hired by an integration association in 2014. Placed under seal and sent to the experts, it has not been communicated at this stage. to lawyers, because of medical confidentiality.
A work stoppage was also found for the period from June 2 to 18, 2014, without the reason being mentioned in the court file.
A former Pôle Emploi advisor also reported to investigators that she had been informed at the time that Adama Traoré, employed as a mover by the association, "
would have been short of breath and was likely to present dizziness
", according to a summary of the investigators. .
According to this woman, he would then have been transferred to landscaping sites.
But among the fifteen former officials or former workers of the association interviewed in recent months, none has confirmed this reason for health concerning the young man, described as "
athletic
", "
strong and muscular
".
The experts must say by August 31 if these new elements have "
vocation to modify
" their initial conclusions, which also evoked the role played, "
to a lesser extent
", by a genetic disease and a rare pathology from which Adama suffered. Traore.
The administrative file of the three gendarmes was also added to the proceedings.
It is mentioned there that they benefited in 2019, for the arrest of Adama Traoré, from a reward for exceptional services - a "
citation without cross to the order of the regiment
" - granted by the boss of the National Gendarmerie.
This award "
dishonours the entire institution of the gendarmerie,
" denounced the lawyer for the Yassine Bouzrou family to Mediapart, who unveiled this information on Friday, on the eve of the annual march in memory of the young man.
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Bagui Traoré acquitted, his sister awaits trial for Adama
