Verdict due in French electrocution deaths that sparked riots

A French court Monday will deliver its verdict in the case of two police officers accused of not helping two Muslim youths electrocuted in 2005, whose deaths sparked three weeks of rioting.

The violent deaths of Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, following a chase by police near Paris ignited three weeks of arson and running clashes with security forces in downtrodden suburbs of Paris and other French cities.

The two officers, Sebastien Gaillemin and Stephanie Klein, stand accused of “non-assistance to individuals in danger” by failing to raise the alarm after the two youths fled into an electricity substation.

Over three weeks of rioting, thousands of vehicles were torched, public buildings were burned and thousands of people were arrested. A state of emergency was declared and a curfew was imposed.

They risk a five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to 75,000 euros ($86,000) if found guilty, but both prosecution and defense have called for them to be let off.

Gaillemin told the court during the trial that he had checked twice to see whether the youngsters were still in the substation and, satisfied that they were clear, left the scene.

“As he was not aware of the danger, he cannot be blamed for not acting to deal with it,” said prosecutor Delphine Dewailly.

“You don’t ease the pain of one drama by adding another injustice,” she told the court at the emotional trial, during which both officers broke down in tears.

If the court follows the prosecution’s recommendation and throws out the case, there is no possibility of appeal.

Daniel Merchant, a lawyer for the officers, said: “There will only be closure if they are let off. The case will then be closed… 10 years, that’s enough now.”

Merchant added that in the case of a conviction, he would appeal on behalf of his client.

However, relatives of the two dead youths — as well as a third youth who escaped with burns — have launched a civil case, seeking a total of 1.6 million euros in compensation and damages.

A lawyer for the families said he was certain the officers were guilty of not coming to the boys’ aid. “Lets call the crime what it is,” said Jean-Pierre Mignard.

Emmanuel Tordjman, another lawyer for the victims’ families, said the trial was also about the suburban residents who “are entitled to the same justice as other people”.

A not-guilty verdict would be a “huge disappointment” for the families of the victims, Tordjman said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday. After 10 years of waiting, parents, other family members and the young survivor, Muhittin Altun, now 27, have high expectations but feel confident justice will be done, he said.

“The victims’ families have no feelings of hatred or revenge against the police. They only want answers to their questions,” Tordjman said. In the event that the two police officers are cleared, “the families’ anger will be inner, not revengeful.”

But it is not clear the families’ peaceful feelings are shared by everyone in the “banlieues,” or suburbs, where several associations and groups have called for gatherings on Monday when the verdict is announced.

Much of the trial turned on one phrase uttered by Gaillemin during the chase.

According to transcripts from the police radio, he was heard to say: “They are climbing over to get to the EDF (electric company) site. If they enter the EDF site, I don’t give them much of a chance.”

During the trial, Gaillemin said he was only aware the boys were running “toward the site” and was not sure they had actually entered it.

As the trial opened, presiding judge Nicolas Leger said the court was “well aware of the particular suffering” of the families, but stressed it was neither “a trial of the national police” nor a ruling on the “riots that shook France”.

Nevertheless, the trial has again brought to the fore the alienation felt by many in France’s ghetto-like suburbs, which Prime Minister Manuel Valls said earlier this year still represent a form of “territorial, social and ethnic apartheid.”

Debate over the darker consequences of that alienation shot to the top of the political agenda in the wake of January’s jihadist attacks in Paris by youths who had embraced radical Islam.