Death Zyed and Bouna: opening of the trial of Corrections … – The World

Death Zyed and Bouna: opening of the trial of Corrections … – The World

The key

• On 27 October 2005, two teenagers died electrocuted after a chase with police in Clichy -under-Bois. The drama ablaze suburbs French.
• This trial for “failure to assist a person in danger” is the culmination of a long legal saga saw the change of venue, Bobigny, in Rennes.

Nearly ten years after the incident, two police officers involved in the death of Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, died in 2005 after a chase with police in Clichy -under-Bois, appearing from Monday, March 16 before the criminal court in Rennes for “endangered person to non-assistance” .

On 27 October 2005, the two teenagers died electrocuted in a power substation where they had taken refuge. A third young Muhittin Altun, 17 at the time, was severely burned. This tragedy was followed by three weeks of riots in the French suburbs. The government decided to declare a state of emergency, a first in France under the V ^th Republic

Read the survey. The last Bouna Traoré day and Zyed Benna

No need

Ten years of waiting were necessary to achieve this trial. In this case, successive floors, Bobigny in Rennes, have always supported the dismissal. But the Court of Appeal of Rennes finally decided in 2013 to refer the case to corrections, saying that the police had put children at risk by letting them into the transformer and by not seeking to protect. The investigating chamber of the court of Rennes Appeal rejected however the danger deliberate offense put the lives of others.

Also read the interview: Are the police like other litigants

According to the police lawyer M ^{th Daniel Merchat “the elements of failure to assist a person in danger are not met” . “My clients have never been sure that there were individuals in the site” , has he assured before trial.}

But for M ^th Jean-Pierre Mignard, a lawyer for families, “the three kids are victims, two of them died in appalling conditions. And it could have been avoided “. Critical lawyer long judicial process that resulted in this trial. For him, “there was a desire to exhaust this procedure by delaying the maximum. It almost succeed “.

“Misunderstanding”

In the end, all parties are pleased that the trial takes place.

Among the families of the victims behind “a sense of anger and incomprehension” always lively, “we want to know what really happened” , told AFP Siyakha Traoré, the big brother of Bouna. “It’s been ten years we expect this trial” , said Adel Benna, the big brother of Zyed. “There are a lot of gray areas. We do not understand “, he said.

As for the police, the trial is also expected. “My clients are relieved to finally be heard, because they are convinced that he had done nothing wrong, no error” , explained M ^th Merchat. He recalled that since the events both officers are still in function: “the General Inspectorate of the National Police found no fault against them. There was no disciplinary procedure “.

The police incur a maximum of five years in prison and 75,000 euros fine.