It was not the most predictable outcome. The Bobigny court on Thursday sentenced six police officers to terms ranging from 6 to 12 months in prison, including six months closed for some, for violence and racist insults during the arrest of Samir E., a man of nationality Egyptian, in April 2020.
The policeman who had declared “A bicot like that, it does not swim” against the arrested was sentenced to six months suspended sentence while the Bobigny prosecution had requested four months suspended. Four of his colleagues were also sentenced to 12 months, including 6 months, when the prosecution, again, had requested the release for the benefit of the doubt for the six police officers suspected of violence. The Bobigny public prosecutor’s office had in fact not retained violence in its requisitions, only insults.
Contacted by Release, Laurent-Franck Lienard, lawyer for Pierre C., police officer who made the racist remarks, announces that his client should appeal “If he has the strength to continue this procedure before the court”. “We are contesting this decision. The court did not take into account either the facts that we had brought to its attention or the legal arguments that we developed “, argues the lawyer known to defend the police.
“Something is quivering in the case law”
This conviction is in any case a reason for satisfaction for Samir E.’s lawyer, Arié Alimi, who does not hide a slight astonishment either. “This is a decision that is not fully expected since the cases of police violence are always very complicated. And doing it against the floor is even more complicated ”, explains the lawyer to Release. The latter goes so far as to evoke a “Milestone victory in the fight against police violence and racism in the police”. “This is not just a symbol because we are talking here about prison sentences for violence. The recognition of violence is not such an obvious thing, there is a rather nagging culture in justice which can sometimes consider that one does not condemn the police officers as one condemns anybody. “
This landmark court decision could pave the way for convictions in French courts, which was not so obvious until now. “We feel that something is quivering in case law and in judicial habitus. It is a decision which reinforces my hopes ”, assures Me Arié Alimi, who also wishes not to forget the victim, Samir E., who was in an irregular situation and therefore in precariousness and fragility “Extreme”. “He was essentialized, he was abused, treated like a thing.” The young man said to himself “very happy” of the verdict and explains, through the voice of his lawyer, having “Always afraid when he meets police officers in the street”. Samir E. is still in an irregular situation but has found a job, even though he had to spend 90 days in an administrative detention center.
Arié Alimi also insists on the symbolism of “The Arab that is thrown into the Seine”, which recalled the scenes of 1961, a dark episode in the history of France mentioned many times during the trial in early November. “I hope some of the families of victims who have not had justice are starting to think that maybe she is starting to change.”
Update : addition this Thursday at 4:15 p.m. of the reactions of lawyers Arié Alimi and Laurent-Franck Lienard and at 5:15 p.m. of that of Samir E.