Images of police violence carried out against Hedi by members of the BAC that occurred in Marseille in July have just been broadcast by Médiapart. The video highlights inconsistencies between the police officers’ version of the events and the images from the scene.
These are chilling images, those of police violence targeting young Hedi on the sidelines of the nights of riots in July. The video of the scene, which occurred on July 2 in Marseille, is broadcast by Médiapart three months after the events, this Tuesday, October 3, 2023. The investigation into this violence which led to the amputation of part of the skull of the 22-year-old young man after an LDB shooting is still ongoing, and four police officers of the Marseille BAC were indicted for “aggravated willful violence”. Although one of them, the perpetrator of the LDB shooting, was incarcerated for 40 days, he has since been released and placed under judicial supervision like his colleagues.
The video surveillance images which filmed the scene reveal “the extreme violence of the blows and their gratuitousness” and “overwhelm the police officers” according to the investigative newspaper. The video, never broadcast until now, shows the scene from two angles: those of the cameras on Rue du Commandant Imhaus and Rue d’Italie on the corner of which the attack took place.
The images contradict the police statements
The scene begins on a street corner when Hedi and his friend come across a group of BAC police officers dressed in civilian clothes. Very quickly, the two young men fled and the police immobilized Hedi against a wall. It was then that the perpetrator of the LDB shooting, posted on the other side of the sidewalk, shot Hedi who had his back turned to him. The police officer indicated to the IGPN investigators that he had fired while he was “10-15 meters, maybe 15-20 meters” from the victim, but the distance would have been 5 and 8.15 meters. according to Médiapart calculations. The General Directorate of the National Police does not provide details on the distances to be respected during an LDB shooting and simply prohibits aiming at the head.
Hit in the head, the young man collapsed on the road, while his friend continued to run to flee the scene. One of the police officers takes Hedi by the arm again and brings him back to a corner of the sidewalk, in the dark, at which point several police officers kick Hedi. The scene lasts 44 seconds.
The question of self-defense
On the video, Hedi does not appear to have threatening behavior towards the police. Nor does there appear to be a projectile in his hand ready to target a member of the police, as indicated by the perpetrator of the LDB shooting and his colleagues during their hearings. All of them also invoked self-defense to justify the shooting and the beatings. But the argument does not seem to be able to be used in view of the images. The videos also show that the four police officers indicted are involved, but two of them deny having witnessed or participated in the violence.
Hedi’s lawyer, Jacques-Antoine Preziosi, reacted to the images he had already seen as part of the investigation. “I have said from the beginning that these police officers have lied and are still lying, they must be in the presence of images to confess the truth,” he declared to France 3. The lawyer who refutes the police officers’ argument of self-defense sticks to his position: “We see it here, Hedi is an innocent victim who was beaten for no reason, against whom an LBD was fired for no reason outside the framework. legal, it is illegitimate violence.”
As for the reaction of the police, also collected by France 3 from Bruno Bartocetti, the national secretary of the Unité SGP-FO Police union, it is mixed. The police officer continues to consider the possible self-defense of the accused BAC members: “An individual can be threatening by turning his back.” Concerning the head shot, he explains that the head was perhaps not directly aimed, “that in the action, the target is moving [et] it is impossible to be so precise.” The man, however, recognizes “shocking” images of Hedi’s beating. Refusing to rely on a single video to form an opinion, he calls for “looking at the whole constituent elements of the investigation.