Death of Nahel: the police officer will likely be tried for violence and never for homicide, decides the court docket of enchantment | EUROtoday

The Versailles Court of Appeal ordered Thursday March 5 that the police officer who killed Nahel Merzouk, 17, on June 27, 2023 in Nanterre, be tried earlier than the legal court docket for violence resulting in loss of life with out intention and never for homicide, she stated in a press launch.

The court docket of enchantment “did not follow the investigating judges as to the homicidal intent, considering that it was not established that Florian M. was motivated, at the time of the shooting, by the desire to take the life of the driver”, she detailed.

The official was initially referred to the Assize Court for homicide however appealed in opposition to this determination.

“Florian M. could have been convinced that by restarting, the Mercedes was likely to harm the physical integrity of third parties or his own,” added the court docket of enchantment in its press launch.

She additionally confirmed the dismissal of the case for the opposite police officer current through the intervention.

“With regard to my client, the court decided that there was no intention of homicide, that is to say that he did not try to kill Mr. Nahel Merzouk,” reacted Laurent-Franck Liénard, lawyer for the police officer who fired the shot.

“The court did not have the courage to dismiss the case as it should have since we are in a case of strict application of the law and my client has only applied the law,” he declared.

M^e Laurent-Franck Liénard additionally introduced that he would “certainly take the matter to the Court of Cassation”.

“A decision not only legal (but) also political”

For M^e Frank Berton, who defends {the teenager}’s mom and proclaims that he’ll enchantment the civil provisions, this can be a “scandalous and shameful” determination.

“I can tell you that Nahel’s mother is scandalized, all her support committees are too: until now, they have placed their trust in justice, and the Versailles investigating chamber is confiscating the debate which was to be held before an assize court,” he lamented.

Mounia Merzouk’s counsel believes that this reclassification is equal to “putting in place protective barriers for the police officer, obviously saying, we are not going to refer a police officer to a criminal court”, in brief “a decision not only legal (but) also political”, he criticized.

Filmed and broadly distributed on social networks, the loss of life of {the teenager}, shot and killed by Florian M. throughout a highway examine, was the reason for a number of nights of demonstrations throughout France.

With AFP