The story of Hervé C. is that of a man whose reputation was tarnished by the act of another and the noises of the corridors. After the tragedy of October 3, 2019, when a computer scientist from the Paris police headquarters converted to Islam killed four of his colleagues, Hervé C. found himself among the PP agents who had been the subject of an internal report, because likely to present a risk of dangerousness due to their radicalization. A police officer since 2004 and a convert to Islam, Hervé C., 41, had then been working since June 2019 at the National Automated Judicial File of Terrorist Offenses (FIJAIT) at the Paris judicial police.
He had his service weapon withdrawn on October 10, then he was suspended by an order from the Ministry of the Interior on October 28, 2019, before being reinstated on February 28, 2020, but transferred as head of a tax fraud group. and VAT. According to the judgment of the Paris administrative court, these decisions were unfounded, in particular because a report, drawn up on October 7, 2019 by the captain’s hierarchical superior, had established that Hervé C. had “a religious conduct in accordance with his personality. and his way of serving, that is to say quite rigid and without concessions, without however betraying any extremism or radicalization”.
“The absolute nullity of the evidence” denounced
“The dynamic recently observed being rather the opposite”, added the report, specifying that “no professional misconduct” had been noted. The authorities had also relied on elements that were too “old”, from a 2011 report, according to the judgment. Report which had, in addition, concluded to the “absence of professional misconduct or obvious ethical breaches” on the part of the official.
Justice therefore canceled the sanctions taken against the captain, in a judgment rendered on Friday and revealed by France Inter. The judges also consider that the fact that union representatives threatened to exercise their right of withdrawal if the captain remained in place was not an admissible argument.
“We are delighted that the administrative court has noted the obvious illegality of the decisions of the Minister of the Interior”, reacted the applicant’s lawyer, Me Anass Khafif, denouncing “the absolute nullity of the evidence on which the Minister of the ‘Interior based’.