The final decision on whether to hold a trial now rests with the investigating judge in charge of the case.
This Monday, the Rennes prosecutor's office announced the end of the investigation of the Steve Maia Caniço file, who died in 2019 during a controversial police operation during the Music Festival in Nantes.
“On March 7, 2022, the investigating magistrate, considering that the information seems to him to be over, communicated the file to the public prosecutor of Rennes so that he could take his requisitions”, indicated the prosecutor Philippe Astruc in a press release.
Steve Maia Caniço, extracurricular animator, had disappeared after a police operation intended to put an end to an electro evening on the banks of the Loire on the night of June 21 to 22, 2019. His body had been found in the river, more than a month later , July 29.
A disputed indictment
In this case, Philippe Astruc recalls that the magistrate in charge of the investigation "indicted for manslaughter" three people who were in office at the time of the events: the police commissioner in charge of the device, the sub-prefect and chief of staff to the prefect of Loire-Atlantique, as well as the prefect Claude d'Harcourt.
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“The prefect and sub-prefect under investigation appealed to the investigating chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal by which they contest their indictment and request the granting of assisted witness status”, says the prosecutor.
These appeals should be examined by the investigating chamber of the court of appeal in July, adds the magistrate.
In this case, the Deputy Departmental Director of Public Security (DDSP) in office at the time of the events, was placed under the status of "assisted witness" in July, as were the city of Nantes and its mayor Johanna Rolland, l deputy mayor in charge of security at the time of the events, and the Métropole.
The assisted witness is a person implicated in a criminal case.
This is an intermediate status between that of the witness and that of the accused.