Feminicide of Mérignac: the boss of the police confirms the sanctions against the police officers

The required sanctions will be properly applied. The Director General of the National Police (DGPN), Frédéric Veaux, announced on Wednesday to AFP that he had confirmed the sanctions proposed Tuesday by the disciplinary boards before which five police officers appeared in connection with the feminicide of Mérignac.

These sanctions, ranging from a warning to three days of temporary suspension of office, concern two police commissioners (the departmental director of public security of Gironde Martin Levrel and the commissioner of Mérignac), two commanders and a brigadier.

The Departmental Director of Police of Gironde receives a warning and the Commissioner of Mérignac with 3 days of temporary suspension of post. Frédéric Veaux explained that they were criticized “for failing to inform their hierarchy and the inspection mission” of the conviction for violence on his ex-wife of the police officer who had incorrectly recorded the complaint of Chahinez Daoud on March 15. The two commissioners will also know “a new assignment”, he added.

The police officer concerned by the registration of the complaint was removed from the police force, the court having withdrawn his right of eligibility for one year.

The commander of the West division and his deputy, for their part, are each sanctioned with 3 days of temporary suspension of duty.

The brigadier, who appeared in Bordeaux on Tuesday, was meanwhile given a warning. One of his pairs finally obtained a postponement of appearance for health reasons.

“It was taken into account the regrets expressed by the staff, mistakes and mistakes made”, commented Frédéric Veaux to AFP. Underlining the speed with which the process took place up to the disciplinary council, the head of the national police ruled that “it was all the responsibilities” that had been taken into account.

He noted that the passage in disciplinary council was “always a very difficult time” and had “significant personal and psychological consequences” for the police officers concerned.

On May 4, in Mérignac, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, Chahinez Daoud was shot and killed before being set on fire in the street by her violent husband from whom she was separated. Already convicted of domestic violence, the latter, who had just come out of prison, had again threatened his wife. She had filed a complaint two months before being killed.

This particularly violent feminicide had triggered a wave of emotion, so much so that the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice had ordered an inspection mission in charge of unraveling the unfolding of the facts which led to this tragedy.

Fifteen days later, the mission had found a series of breaches and “a series of failures” concerning both the police and the prison services.

In September, the report of the IGPN, “the police of the police forces”, established mistakes or errors of appreciation committed by several agents within the framework of this feminicide. But in her conclusions, she did not however recommend the summons before the disciplinary council, a decision finally taken by Frédéric Veaux.

In July, new shadow on this file with the revelation by the Chahinez Duck of the conviction on February 10, 2021 to eight months in prison with probationary suspension for violence on his ex-spouse of the police officer of Mérignac who took the complaint of Chahinez Daoud on the 15th March. This element had not been communicated to the inspection mission, which infuriated its members as well as the Minister. A disciplinary council met in September in Bordeaux to examine his case.