BFM TV INFO. The investigations opened by various public prosecutor’s offices in France, the majority of which are in Paris, have been entrusted to the police force, which will have to verify the legality or not of acts committed by police officers.
Since the beginning of the movement against the pension reform, 53 judicial investigations have been opened by various public prosecutors in France and entrusted to the IGPN, the police force, to verify the legality or otherwise of acts committed by police officers, according to our information.
Demonstrators injured, insulted
An investigation was notably opened on January 23, after a demonstrator against the pension reform in Paris had his testicle amputated following a baton from a policeman, a scene filmed, for which the victim filed a complaint.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also opened investigations on March 22, when a young man fell in the Châtelet district of Paris after being punched by a police officer. A young woman, who was nearby, also filed a complaint after being beaten with a truncheon in the same gathering.
On March 25, another investigation was opened after the revelation by the media of a audio recording in which police officers from the Brav-M made insulting remarks against arrested demonstrators.
The latest report given by the Minister of the Interior on April 2 reported 36 judicial investigations entrusted to the IGPN. In eleven days, 17 additional investigations were therefore entrusted to the police. Among the total of 53 investigations opened, 40 relate to Paris and are piloted by the public prosecutor’s office of the capital.
On the gendarmerie side, four judicial investigations have been opened on the national territory, and entrusted to the IGGN, in particular concerning the demonstrators injured during the anti-basin mobilization of March 25 in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres).
No police suspended for the time being
Among the police officers who are the subject of judicial investigations and identified – not all of them are yet – none have been suspended for the moment. The decision to suspend a police officer as a precaution, even before the end of a criminal investigation, belongs to the prefect of police of Paris or to the director general of the national police, but not to the IGPN, whereas the judicial investigations of this type can be long, lasting at least several months.
Some investigations were opened following complaints lodged by demonstrators, others after a report under article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (which obliges any authority to denounce an offense or crime of which it has knowledge) , by the prefect of police of Paris or by elected officials.
