The hearing on Thursday of a key witness in the investigation into the death of Adama Traoré, who died in 2016 during his arrest by three gendarmes, gave rise to two contradictory accounts by defense lawyers and the family, in front of the press.
This man, with whom Adama Traoré had taken refuge on July 19, 2016 in Beaumont-sur-Oise (Val-d'Oise) just before his arrest, was heard for the first time by the examining magistrates, in the presence of the lawyers.
At the end of this hearing of more than four hours, each camp delivered a diametrically opposite version. On the one hand, Me Yassine Bouzrou, the lawyer for the civil parties, affirmed that this witness had "retracted" before the examining magistrates.
Mr. Bouzrou: "No respiratory distress before the arrest"
"He claimed that the elements contained in his hearing minutes (dated August 1, 2016, editor's note) were false. […] He said that Adama Traoré did not suffer from respiratory distress, did not breathe noisily before the arrest, ”he said.
According to him, these words call into question the judicial medical expert reports, which put the gendarmes out of the case in the death of this 24-year-old young black man, erected as a symbol of police violence. Experts considered that the vital prognosis was "irreversibly initiated" before the arrest, based in particular on the initial statements of this witness.
Ten days after the incident, the latter had told investigators that he had found Adama sitting at his door, "out of breath" after a chase in the heat wave. "The only thing he says to me is: Shoot me . I have never seen him in such a state. He couldn't speak. He was breathing heavily, ”he said in the minutes. But the gendarmes 'lawyers, who succeeded their colleague in front of the journalists' microphones, gave a completely different version of the same hearing.
On the side of the gendarmes: "Medical expertise confirmed"
"This witness confirmed the version which had been his previously, and in particular on an extremely important element which is the state of exhaustion in which Adama Traoré arrives at his home, having even indicated today that Adama Traoré him would have said, before the gendarmes intervened and arrested him, the following sentence: I will die, "reported Me Rodolphe Bosselut. "It is a capital element which comes to reinforce medical expertises", he continued.
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For legal experts, it is a genetic disease, sickle cell anemia, associated with a rare pathology, sarcoidosis, which led to asphyxiation of Adama Traoré "during an episode of stress and effort".
These conclusions were swept away by the doctors chosen by the family, including a specialist in sarcoidosis, which relaunched the investigations which were moving towards a dismissal in spring 2019.
