Head to the Court of Cassation. Almost seven years after being knocked out by a shot from a defense ball launcher (LBD) during a demonstration in Rennes, a student is going to appeal in cassation to try to obtain compensation from French justice. In April 2016, Jean-François Martin, a 20-year-old geography student, was seriously injured by police fire on the sidelines of a demonstration against the Labor Law. He had lost his left eye. After a first dismissal, his lawyer Me Arié Alimi had appealed. On Wednesday, the investigating chamber of the Angers Court of Appeal confirmed the dismissal order for two police officers. The court considers that the use of an LBD by the police, who were seeking at the time of the events to stop rocket fire, constitutes “a proportionate use of force”.
An investigation had been opened by the Rennes prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the IGPN. Two police officers, who had used their weapon at the time of the injury, had been placed under the status of assisted witness for “willful violence resulting in permanent disability or mutilation by a person holding public authority”. In May 2020, after four years of investigation, the investigating judge in charge of the case dismissed the case, the investigations having failed to identify, among the two police officers, the author of the shooting.
In November 2021, the investigating chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal ordered the referral to the criminal court of one of the police officers, for involuntary injuries resulting in an ITT of more than three months. The police officer targeted by the dismissal and the public prosecutor’s office had then lodged an appeal in cassation and the file had been referred to the investigating chamber of the Angers Court of Appeal.
“The back and forth between the Court of Cassation and the investigating chamber show the uncertainty of justice in the face of police violence. We will continue this fight with Jean-François and his family, ”reacted Me Alimi, who intends to file a new appeal in cassation.