His client was indicted and remanded in custody. The lawyer of the policeman who killed Nahel Tuesday in Nanterre, following a refusal to comply, returned Thursday night on BFMTV on the violence and events that followed the dramatic act. While many cities have experienced outbreaks of abuses in recent nights, and these abuses continue, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard claims that his client "understands that it serves as a fuse, to calm the rioters." "The reality is that the rain calms the rioters more than the court decisions. The rioters are not going to calm down because my policeman is in custody. The proof, it continues, "he said.
If many of these violent youths break street furniture to shouts of "justice", the policeman's lawyer considers that they already have it. With his client in prison, "what more do they want? A scaffold? They want his head cut off in public?" he scoffed. The policeman would be "devastated" and asks "forgiveness to the family". For Laurent-Franck Liénard, "the disturbance of public order should stop as soon as the client is incarcerated, and this is not the case." "The more you take police into custody, the more you're going to hit law enforcement, and the more disorder will increase," he predicted.
LIVE - Death of Nahel in Nanterre: at least 19 arrests in the Paris region, scenes of violence in Marseille, Lyon and Lille
The opportunity to criticize the detention decision that was taken a little earlier. "It is a bad calculation because it will give wings to those who want to sow chaos and it will force the police in the use of force," said Laurent-Franck Liénard. If "it was necessary to arrest" Nahel at all costs to avoid a possible accident, the lawyer insists: his client did not "want to kill (him)" and "aimed down". "He tries to pull the driver's leg, and at that moment he is pushed by the car and he ends up with the cannon going up. He triggers his shot in a thoracic region that he obviously did not want to reach, "said Laurent-Franck Liénard. Adding that this gesture "was absolutely necessary" to stop the vehicle.