Justice does not plan to reopen the investigation into the death of a Nigerian in 2018 in the Hautes-Alpes, deplored Thursday June 30 the association for the defense of migrants who had made the request with the sister of the victim. .
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Blessing Matthew, 21 at the time, was found drowned on May 9, 2018 in the Durance, after crossing the border from Italy.
The investigation into the circumstances of the death, relating in particular to a gendarmerie check which occurred two days earlier at the border, had initially been dismissed by the Gap prosecutor's office.
The victim's sister, Christiana Obie Darko, had filed a complaint with a civil action and a judicial investigation had been opened.
It concluded with a dismissal pronounced on June 18, 2020 and confirmed, on February 9, 2021, by the investigating chamber of the Grenoble Court of Appeal.
On June 13, the association Tous Migrants and the sister of the exile filed a request for the reopening of judicial information in the light of new testimony likely, according to them, "
to completely reshuffle the cards
".
But ten days later, the public prosecutor of Grenoble informed them, in a letter of which AFP read, that he did not plan to seize the chamber of the instruction for this purpose.
The applicants condemned, in a press release issued on Thursday, "
this decision which is in a few lines and which was taken in a very short time
".
"
It is perfectly inconceivable given the decisive nature of the testimony collected.
It contributes to increasing a feeling of mistrust towards justice when all the conditions of independence are not met and when the police are called into question
, ”added their lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth.
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According to the victim's sister and the migrant support collective, the testimony, provided by a member of the "
group of exiles chased by the gendarmes
", revealed for the first time "
the existence of a real ambush
" .
.
For the Attorney General, “
the existence of the witness was known
”: “
the investigators had two telephone contacts with him, on May 14 and 15, 2018, and he had not mentioned any ambush
”, writes the magistrate in his answer.
"
The investigating chamber had expressly indicated that his hearing was not useful for the manifestation of the truth
“, he adds.
The association Tous Migrants believes that the personal situation of this direct witness to the facts, at the time, did not allow him "
to be heard physically by the investigators in a serene way
".