The investigation into the death of a Guinean during a road check in the suburbs of Angoulême (Charente) undermines the police version, according to elements revealed Monday by Mediapart and Radio France, confirmed to AFP by a source close to the matter.
On June 14, two weeks before the death of young Nahel in Nanterre, Alhoussein Camara, 19, lost his life while driving his car to work, around 4 a.m. in Saint-Yrieix-sur -Charente, in the Angoulême metropolitan area, killed by police shooting after a “refusal to comply”.
Shot from behind?
The Alliance police union had reported, that day, a “bullet wound to the ribcage”, the Angoulême public prosecutor speaking “from the upper body” without further details.
Since then, nothing has leaked out of the autopsy report. However, according to the source close to the file, this report indicates that the entry port of the projectile is located “on the left posterior side” of the body, excluding a frontal shot. Questioned on Monday about this information, the prosecution declined any comment.
Police officer indicted for intentional homicide
The perpetrator of the fatal shooting, a 52-year-old brigadier, was indicted for intentional homicide and placed under judicial supervision at the end of June. Injured in one knee during the events, with a 30-day ITT, he claims from the beginning to have taken out his weapon under threat from the car which hit him, and to have acted in this way in self-defense, a circumstance which is at heart of the investigation.
According to the version initially given by the authorities, the police decided to check the vehicle because it was “zigzagging” on the roadway. He was pursued “at a reduced speed”, before stopping at a red light. The victim came under police fire as he tried to escape control, the car ending up against a wall.
Contradictions in police statements
But the IPGN report, cited by Mediapart and Radio France, highlights contradictions in the statements of the police officers involved in the intervention, on the reason for the check and on the course of the events.
“As in many cases of police violence, it appears that the police officers lied, that the unions validated their lies and that the justice system covered them up,” denounced Monday the lawyer for the Camara family, Arié Alimi.
Those of the accused could not be reached by AFP.