Belfort: three secondary school students charged after police officer assault, two admit blows
Three minors were charged on Thursday for violence against a police commander in Belfort. Two admit to the blows; the third denies deliberately targeting the officer with tear gas.
Three young people prosecuted for assault on police officer
According to Actu17, three secondary school students aged 16 and 17 who were detained following the assault on a police commander in Belfort were charged on Thursday, 8 October and placed under judicial supervision. Two of them admitted striking the officer during the secondary school mobilisation. The third disputes deliberately targeting the police officer with a tear gas canister. Five adolescents are now being prosecuted in total in this case.
The public prosecutor, Paul-Édouard Lallois, announced charges for "violence committed during a demonstration on public thoroughfare against a national police officer, resulting in total incapacity for work not exceeding eight days, aggravated by the circumstances that the facts were committed collectively and by persons deliberately concealing their faces wholly or in part". This offence carries a maximum sentence of ten years' imprisonment. All three attend school in Belfort and have no criminal record.
One of the 17-year-old adolescents was identified as the perpetrator of the blow to the police commander's back, which caused him to fall. He then dealt three punches to the head of the officer on the ground. In custody, he admitted to the facts whilst claiming not to have known it was a police officer.
The 16-year-old minor admitted kicking the police officer in the head while on the ground. He told investigators that he understood he was dealing with a police officer when the latter drew his tear gas weapon, which was before the first blow was struck against the victim, as the prosecutor emphasised.
The second 17-year-old is suspected of picking up a tear gas canister from the ground and using it against the commander following the violence. Video footage shows the spray was directed at the unconscious police officer. The accused disputes deliberately targeting him and claims he pressed the trigger "without precise direction". He admits having likely "hit" the officer according to investigators, but states: "My intention was not to do it". He did however admit suspecting, before the violence, that the man was a police officer, because "he was in the process of taking someone into custody".
In accordance with the prosecution's submissions, the three secondary school students were placed under judicial supervision. They are subject to a curfew from 21:30 to 07:00 and are prohibited from going near any secondary school other than their own. They are also banned from participating in any demonstration, carrying a weapon and contacting each other. Any breach is liable to result in remand in custody.
These three charges add to those against two other secondary school students, aged 17 and 15, who have been prosecuted since Sunday. The older of the first two, the one the commander had just detained, was placed in remand custody. The younger was placed under judicial supervision. The lawyer for the detained secondary school student, Me Arié Alimi, appealed, which was examined on 14 October by the instruction chamber of Besançon. The detained secondary school student also filed a complaint for "attempted murder" against the police officer, accusing him of attempting to drown him. The Vesoul prosecution office has entrusted the investigation to the IGPN. Investigations are continuing.
Source: Actu17