Sofiane, 24, filed a complaint against police officers in the 19th arrondissement of Paris after being “massacred for nothing” on July 13. The young man testifies to the media while the IGPN investigation is underway.
Several police officers from the brigade of the 19th arrondissement of Paris are the subject of a complaint. It is Sofiane (alias used in the media to preserve anonymity), a 24-year-old young man who is suing the police. He says he was clubbed for no apparent reason by law enforcement officers on the night of July 13. Sofiane delivered her testimony and the story of a “night of horror” to Mediapart. According to the words of the young man, the police fell on him and his friends when they were just chatting. The violence of the blows fractured the jaw of Sofiane who bore the scars of a car accident which had occurred a few weeks earlier and had a neck brace around her neck as well as an arm in a sling.
After Sofiane filed a complaint, a preliminary investigation into intentional violence by persons holding public authority was opened and entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). Sofiane was heard by the latter on July 18, five days after the facts denounced. The General Directorate of the National Police (DGPN) and the Paris police headquarters confirmed this information with Médiapart announcing that “the employment management of the civil servant in question is responsible [et a initié] an administrative investigation”. After her complaint, Sofiane was able to be examined by a forensic doctor ten days after the reported attack and the after-effects of the blows, particularly to the face, were still visible. The specialist set a period of total incapacity of seven-day work and recommended the use of a psychological assessment.
An unjustified aggression on the part of the police?
“They came, massacred me for nothing and left.” This is how Sofiane sums up the scene he experienced on July 13 at Mediapart. In his story, the young man indicates being reunited with friends, sitting on a bench, at the foot of the building where his mother lives, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Further in the neighborhood other gangs of young people fire firecrackers while the police patrol. An unmarked BAC car stopped in front of Sofiane’s gang only a few minutes before the police attacked them, according to the young man’s testimony. He recounts that uniformed police officers with shields “advanced towards [eux]in [les] pointing with their flashball. They must have been between five and ten.
“My friends then shouted that we had done nothing and that we had nothing to do with what was happening in the neighborhood. To which the police asked us to sit down and not move,” continues Sofiane with the media. The 24-year-old explains that he and his friends stand still when another group of police officers are targeted by mortar fire. In reaction, the police officers rush on the group of Sofiane who tries to flee but is caught. Accidented, Sofiane says to implore the police “please stop!” getting a “shut your mouth” for only answer. The young man adds that he was clubbed in the face and on his already fractured left shoulder.
Sofiane declares having asked the policeman the reason for the beatings after the episode of violence, to which the man replied, according to the memories of the witness: “Break off, go home. You have nothing to give a fuck there.” Today, neither Sofiane nor her friends have been arrested, which prompts the young man to say that the police “clubbed them for free”. “How can we let the police behave like thugs?” wonders Sofiane since he filed a complaint.