Mike Ben Peter’s widow and her lawyer arrive at the courtroom in Renens (VD) on Monday afternoon.
Photo: Keystone/Valentin Flouraud
The reading of the verdict in the appeal trial of six Lausanne police officers began peacefully on Monday afternoon in Renens (VD). The officers are accused of negligent homicide and abuse of authority in the death of Mike Ben Peter in 2018.
More than a hundred people traveled to Renens. About seventy of them took their seats in the cantonal courtroom to support the victim’s family, especially his widow and his brother, as well as the six defendants.
Outside, members of the Kiboko group displayed banners stressing that ‘even in Switzerland, the police kill’ and demanding justice for Mike, Lamine, Hervé, Nzoy, who they said were killed by the police.
Equality
After a three-day hearing in a packed room last week, three judges of the cantonal court of appeals will have to determine whether six Lausanne municipal police officers reacted in a proportionate manner when they arrested Mike Ben Peter during a strict drug check near Lausanne station on February 28, 2018. Are they guilty of negligent homicide and/or abuse of authority?
At first instance, in June 2023, the six agents were acquitted of negligent homicide charges, which were eventually dropped by the public prosecutor’s office. The legal qualification of abuse of authority was added by the appeals court on the first day of the hearing last week, following a request from the victim’s family lawyer.
The reading of the verdict sparked fierce reactions inside and outside the Longmell courtroom. Many people had specifically entered the courtroom to express their anger and shout at the police, a scene rarely seen in a trial in Switzerland.
/ATS