Zecler trial: officer who handcuffed producer says he saw nothing
In court, officer K. claims he noticed no brutality or racist remarks during Michel Zecler's arrest in 2020, contradicting several witnesses.
Officer contradicts witnesses
At the departmental criminal court, officer K., who handcuffed Michel Zecler during his arrest, claimed he heard no racist remarks from his colleagues. According to Le Figaro, he testified from the witness stand that none of the three officers on trial for violence made any racist remarks. The public prosecutor noted the irony: Zecler, dazed by blows and half asphyxiated by teargas as he left his studio, allegedly asked the officer: "You hear them calling me a 'dirty black' and you say nothing?"
Several occupants of the studio confirmed that Zecler was called a "dirty nigger" during the first phase of the intervention. Officer K., described as jovial and expressive on the stand, mimicked the handcuffing and justified his statements by evoking widespread "great agitation". He stressed that, being black himself, he would have noticed such remarks if they had been made.
The trial highlights the contrast between the accounts of witnesses present at the studio and the version presented by the officers being investigated for violence and falsification of official records.
Source: Le Figaro