The release was requested on Wednesday before the Lyon Criminal Court for two magistrates accused of having falsified in 2015 the criminal record of a detainee to keep him incarcerated, which would have pushed him to suicide.
On June 12, 2015, Éric Hager appeared before the criminal court of Bar-le-Duc (Meuse) for acts of aggravated willful violence.
Around 1:00 p.m., he was sentenced to a two-year prison term, six months of which was suspended.
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Since no further detention was ordered on the criminal file or pronounced publicly, the lawyer for this man who was to celebrate his 50th birthday three days later told him that he could be released during the day.
But the clerk, who had then noted the absence of mention relating to the continued detention, returned to see the president of the court and the deputy prosecutor to question them on this subject.
After a brief discussion between them, the substitute added on the hearing sheet the handwritten mention “
continued in detention
”.
Éric Hager, informed that he would not ultimately be released, committed suicide a few minutes after a call to his mother telling her that he was going to hang himself.
His body was found at 1:50 p.m. in his cell, his shoelaces around his neck.
It was recognized at the time that the court forgot to order the continued detention.
The two magistrates, thinking of repairing their error, according to their words, allowed themselves to add it.
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Because of the youth of the substitute (27 years old at the time of the facts) and the lack of experience of the president, in office for only three months, they are then exempt from punishment.
Other investigations are carried out and will lead to a dismissal for criminal irresponsibility due to error of law then of dismissal for lack of intentional elements.
"
Indignant
" by these decisions according to his lawyer Stéphane Giuranna, the family of Éric Hager then filed a complaint for forgery in public writing by a person holding public authority and arbitrary detention by a person holding public authority.
The two women are then sent back to the Lyon Criminal Court, after a change of scenery.
After more than five hours of hearing, where they repeated - sometimes in tears like the substitute - that they had certainly made a "
mistake
" but "
without fraudulent intent
", the prosecutor requested "
the release
".
There was a "
succession of oversights and errors
", a "
lack of verification
" and "
disciplinary faults
" but "
no fraudulent intent
" in the acts of the two magistrates, she said.
The decision was reserved for October 26.
