The Paris court acquitted on Tuesday, January 25, two gendarmerie officers prosecuted for moral harassment against a lieutenant who had killed himself in his office of their Cher brigade in 2013
. offense are not established
,” said the President in rendering his decision.
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Only one of the defendants was present at the hearing on Tuesday.
Neither the victim's family nor their lawyer attended.
During the trial in November, the prosecution had requested the release of the two defendants, tried in direct summons for "
moral harassment
" and "
non-assistance to anyone in danger
".
“We insult my gendarmes”
The victim, Lieutenant Grégory Girard, 30, killed himself with his service weapon on November 1, 2013 in his office at the gendarmerie in Saint-Amand-Montrond (Cher) leaving a letter, read at the hearing, where he specifically implicated captains Mickaël D. (now commander) and Bruno G. In his letter, Lieutenant Girard, described by the court as "
a brilliant intellectual
" from university and keen on history, complained that his two superiors spoke to him "
as if to a half-witted person unable to make sense of things
".
"
We insult (by email or aloud) my gendarmes, and myself incidentally
", wrote the lieutenant, appreciated by most of his men, according to testimonies read at the hearing.
After his death, an investigation was opened by the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie, which concluded that the offense of moral harassment was not constituted.
Seized of the case, the parquet floor of Bourges had closed it without further action.
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The lieutenant's family had fought for a new investigation to be opened elsewhere than in the Cher.
“
The gendarmerie has always wanted to protect itself.
The institution of the gendarmerie had transferred all the faults to my brother (...) His humanity, his benevolence, this is perhaps what did not please his two superiors
, ”said his sister Valérie during of the trial.