The charges brought against a member of the security forces after a complaint by a man blinded by a bullet launcher (LBD) in September 2017 in Vigneux-sur-Seine (Essonne) have been dropped, according to a decision of the Court of Cassation on 30 November.
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The Court of Cassation notes that there is, in the present case, no ground of such a kind as to allow the admission of the plaintiff's appeal, which sought to oppose the dismissal of the case by the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal, the Court wrote.
Self-defence
In 2017, a 26-year-old man was blinded by a defensive bullet launcher (LBD) shot that hit him in the eye. The police officer has always maintained that he acted in self-defence. In the decision of the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal seen by AFP, the prosecutor's office considers that "the condition of proportionality is met with regard to the use of a weapon" and that the police officer could therefore shoot.
According to the ruling, the police maintained that an individual was threatening to throw an object at the police, even though it was never found. "It's a truly mind-boggling decision as there was no doubt about the disproportionate nature of the shooting," the young man's lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, told AFP on Friday. "This case illustrates the extreme structural difficulties of being able to recognise the responsibility of police officers when they are called into question in the performance of their duties," he added, adding that he was considering "referring the matter to the European Court of Human Rights".