Adama Traoré, who died in 2016 after an arrest, was erected as a symbol of the violence and racism of which the police are accused.
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This is one of the sensitive legal files in France. This Friday, the magistrates in charge of the investigations into the death of Adama Traoré pronounced a dismissal for the gendarmes who arrested him.
This decision thus puts an end to a legal procedure of several years which had been marked by conflicting medical expertise and demonstrations.
family call
Me Yassine Bouzrou, the family’s lawyer, has already announced that he is appealing this decision. ” The content of this order is a real scandal “, he denounced, evoking “ contradictions and quite flagrant violations of the law in force “.
According to him, “ the investigating judges have shown, since the beginning of this file, a total bias and an inability to investigate this file in an objective manner “. And to add: Justice cannot dishonor itself to this point and we have good hope that these magistrates of the Court of Appeal respect the law “.
Relief
For their part, the lawyers of the three police officers involved in the arrest of Adama Traoré say to themselves ” relieved “. ” Finally, a court decision confirms that the professional, proportionate and legitimate actions of the gendarmes have nothing to do with the unfortunate death of Adama Traoré “, declared Me Pascal Rouiller, welcoming “an essential step”.
This dismissal was expected : the three gendarmes were never indicted, but only placed under the status of assisted witness.
Symbol
This decision therefore comes seven years after the death of Adama Traoré on July 19, 2016 in the Persan barracks, nearly two hours after his arrest in his town of Beaumont-sur-Oise (Val-d’Oise) at the end of a chase, on a hot day when the temperature had come close to 37°C.
Since then, led by his big sister Assa Traoré, the young man’s relatives accuse the military of having caused his death and have made his death a symbol of police violence and racism. Many events were organized since the death of the young man to denounce this trial.