A 26-year-old Franco-Spanish engineer, who was taking photos during the demonstration on Thursday against the pension reform in Paris, had to have his testicle amputated after a baton from a police officer, we learned Sunday with his lawyer who will file a complaint.
The complaint for willful violence resulting in mutilation by a person holding public authority is being filed, the young man’s lawyer, Me Lucie Simon, told AFP, confirming information from the newspaper. Release. “It is a criminal qualification, we are not in a state of self-defense or necessity, I want proof of this from the images we have and the fact that he was not arrested afterwards. “, said Mr. Simon.
“It’s a blow so strong that we had to amputate his testicle”
On photos circulating on social networks and videos broadcast in particular by BFMTV and AB7 Media, we see a policeman hitting the crotch of a man on the ground, who is holding a camera in one hand, then leaving. . The man had been thrown to the ground by another police officer, according to his account.
“It’s such a strong blow that we had to amputate his testicle. An extremely violent and gratuitous gesture which borders on sadism, ”said the lawyer for the engineer who is still hospitalized. The scene took place at the time of clashes between demonstrators and the police, near the Place de la Bastille, with the throwing of projectiles and the use of tear gas.
An ongoing investigation
An internal administrative investigation has been open since Saturday, the Paris police headquarters told AFP. Laurent Nuñez, “the prefect of police, asked the director of public order and traffic (DOPC) that the exact circumstances of the reported incident be clarified”, added the police headquarters.
According to her, the facts occurred “in a context of extreme violence and as part of a police maneuver to arrest violent individuals”. The demonstration had gathered in the capital 80,000 people according to the Ministry of the Interior and 400,000 according to the CGT.
“When we look at the image, we are inevitably challenged”
The engineer, who lives in Guadeloupe, “is still in shock and keeps asking why” he was injured. “He did not represent a danger, he feels incomprehension, shock and anger because he will suffer irreversible consequences”, underlined Me Simon.
Government spokesperson Olivier Véran expressed on BFMTV his “empathy” towards the young man while stressing “the need to understand the conditions under which this intervention was carried out and to identify what is self-defense. “. “It was a fairly heavy sequence for the police who were, for some of them, attacked” according to the prefecture, he recalled. “When we look at the image, we are necessarily challenged” and “nothing justifies being operated on in this way, to find ourselves injured”, estimated Olivier Véran.