It is a trial where the accused will often have wiped away tears.
The young American Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot dead two people and injured a third on the sidelines of anti-racist protests in August 2020 in Kenosha, was acquitted Friday after a well-attended trial in the United States.
Twelve jurors in a Wisconsin state court declared him "not guilty" of all five charges against him, including murders, on the fourth day of their deliberations.
The 18-year-old white man, who faced life imprisonment, had pleaded self-defense.
Upon reading the verdict, he sobbed before quickly leaving the courtroom.
A 17 y / o white supremacist, Kyle Rittenhouse, drove from Illinois to Wisconsin w / an AR-15 to TERRORIZE BLM PROTESTORS
He shot several people ended up killing 2. Then is able to casually walk around police as if he didn't just murder!
WHAT THE FUCK ?! pic.twitter.com/eSdQm5eJ4Z
- StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) August 26, 2020
The accused was "a tourist of chaos" who "sought excitement" and "voluntarily and knowingly put himself in a dangerous situation", retorted the prosecutor Thomas Binger in his indictment. The trial, indicative of American society's fractures over guns, the right to self-defense and the anti-racist Black Lives Matter (Black Lives Matter) movement, was broadcast widely in the country, which waited with some trepidation. The verdict.
His trial exposed American society's fractures over guns, the right to self-defense, and the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter ("Black Lives Matter"), and the verdict unsurprisingly drew criticism. antipodes reactions.
New York Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio blasted a “denial of justice”, while Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller tweeted: “God bless America”.
A verdict under high protection
As a precaution, the governor of Wisconsin has asked 500 National Guard soldiers to stand ready to intervene in Kenosha.
On August 23, 2020, this city in the Great Lakes region was set on fire after a police blunder against an African-American.
Then aged 17, Kyle Rittenhouse had equipped himself with a semi-automatic rifle and had joined armed groups who had come to “protect” the businesses.
Under confusing circumstances, he opened fire, killing two men and wounding a third.
All of his victims are white.
Read alsoUnited States: police fired seven shots at an unarmed black man
In tears Wednesday in front of the jurors, Kyle Rittenhouse assures us "to have done nothing wrong". "I just defended myself," he said on the eighth day of his trial in this city in the northern United States. “I didn't mean to kill, I just wanted to stop the people attacking me. He appeared free, supporters having paid his deposit of two million dollars. The young man has indeed become a muse in certain right-wing circles for whom the great mobilization against police violence in the summer of 2020 was the work of “antifas” or “anarchists”.
On Twitter, the Black Lives Matter movement stressed that it was not surprised by the verdict.
"The system works exactly as it's supposed to (…) to protect white supremacy."
"It illustrates the urgent need for reform of the justice system and of our broken penal system," added Shaadie Ali, a representative of the powerful civil rights organization ACLU.