The Versailles prosecutor's office announced on Friday the opening of a judicial investigation for "research into the causes of death" after the controversial drowning in the Seine of a relative of Adama Traoré, Mahamadou Fofana, pursued by the police on Sunday evening from Marly-le-Roi (Yvelines).
The 35-year-old man was caught loading a motorbike into a van before fleeing in the sight of police.
His family has since demanded that light be shed on the circumstances of the tragedy and denounces possible police violence.
The typeface entered
The Versailles prosecutor's office announced on Friday that it had seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) "as soon as the death has been observed" and, following its report, to have opened a judicial investigation in order to determine the causes and circumstances of the accident.
The prosecution also indicated that it had opened a second judicial investigation, against X, for acts of organized gang theft and concealment of theft.
According to the police, Mahamadou Fofana tried to escape in a van before parking his vehicle and throwing himself into the Seine at Bougival, in a place where there is no CCTV camera capable of shedding light on the circumstances of the death.
In the middle of the Seine, he would have panicked
Still according to the police, the man began to panic when he arrived in the middle of the river and tried to turn around.
He found himself in trouble and two officers dived into the water to try to rescue him, without success.
According to a first autopsy pre-report quoted by Versailles prosecutor Maryvonne Caillibotte on Wednesday, "all the signs point to a drowning" by Mahamadou Fofana.
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Death of Mahamadou Fofana: "Nothing is obscure or concealed", assures the prosecutor of Versailles
Mahamadou Fofana had been the subject of an arrest warrant since 2017 and a sentence of 18 months in prison for drug trafficking.
The family of the deceased, however, categorically questioned the version presented by the police and the prosecution.
"The completely deformed skull"
Assa Traoré, who presents himself as his cousin and is the figurehead of the Adama committee founded after the death of his brother in 2016 in the wake of his arrest by the gendarmes, particularly underlined the presence of injuries to the head of the victim .
"His skull was completely deformed, as if he had been put fifteen times with a baton in the head," she said after seeing the body of her relative in the morgue.
The lawyer of the Me Yassine Bouzrou family told him about injuries "which correspond to a shock against a hard plan.
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Kangne, the victim's sister, for her part launched a call for witnesses on social networks "to know the truth".
Yesterday evening Mahamadou lost his life during a police intervention, the police explained that he threw himself into the seine to escape them and drowned.
His sister does not believe the police version and calls for witnesses.
The following tweet contacts 👇 # VéritéPourMahamadou pic.twitter.com/9g5aMZ7fTw
- The Truth For Adama (@laveritepradama) September 14, 2020
The prosecutor of Versailles for her part mentioned Wednesday "skin abrasions on the skull which are recent and some on the right shoulder", specifying that, according to the lawyer, they "did not play a role in the mechanism of deceased ".
