A police officer tried for aggravated violence against a demonstrator in Rouen in 2020 was sentenced to six months in prison by the city's criminal court for hitting a yellow vest during a demonstration against pension reform.
This police officer had first filed a complaint himself for violence before the investigation, including an independent video, demonstrated that it was he who had committed violence in an illegitimate manner.
The court found him guilty of having struck with a baton and kicked a non-violent demonstrator who had gone to the bedside of a woman who had fallen in the rue du Gros-Horloge.
This police officer, now CRS, was working for the Departmental Intervention Company (CDI) at the time of the events.
Video evidence
“I have always respected ethics, he kicked a colleague's shield. It’s maintaining order
,” declared the defendant.
“No one among the police officers interviewed saw a kick from the victim
,” the judge replied.
Me Chloé Chalot, the victim's lawyer, stressed that it took
“a video for my client to be on this side of the bench today.
In this case, it is the police officer who attacks and who files a complaint against the victim.
Although he carried out blows, he identified himself as a victim.
It's worrying."
The prosecution had requested a six-month suspended prison sentence and a six-month ban on possessing a weapon as an additional sentence.
“There are crowds, there are people, it’s not an easy time for the police.
But we cannot understand an illegitimate use of force.
There is no proportionality when he attacks the victim.
This is inexcusable, he is nevertheless trained in intervention techniques
,” said Clémence Eble of the public prosecutor.
According to Mr. Jonathan Proust, the police officer's lawyer,
“this case ignores the context of the time.
How many projectiles, how many paving stones, did they receive over the weeks?
He is being prosecuted on the basis of fragile elements and given the benefit of the doubt, he must be released.
The complainant made inconsistent statements
.