Three police officers were sentenced in France to between 3 and 12 months of conditional prison, that is, suspended or exempt sentences, for the violent arrest and serious assault that left irreversible consequences on a young black man, during a check in 2017. in a case that shocked the country. One of the agents faced a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, but received a much shorter sentence. The ruling generated rejection from the families of victims of police violence in the country.
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Almost seven years after the attack in Aulnay-sous-Bois, in the northeast of Paris, Théodore Luhaka, a young man of Congolese origin who was 22 years old at the time, has irreversible consequences from a wound in the anus caused by an extendable baton.
After nine hours of deliberation, Marc-Antoine Castelain, 34, was found guilty of using the baton that injured the victim and was sentenced to 12 months of suspended prison, meaning that he will not enter prison, and with a ban to work on public roads for 5 years.
Castelain faced a sentence of up to 15 years in prisonbut he received a much lesser sentence, accompanied by a ban on performing his duties on the street.
The other two police officers, Jérémie Dulin, 42, and Tony Hochart, 31, received 3-month suspended prison sentences for voluntary violence.
The victim's attorney said those sentences represent “a victory.”
Castelain's defender expressed “immense relief,” stating that the verdict establishes that his client “is not a criminal.”
A case that shocked France
On February 2, 2017, four police officers conducted an identification check on a group of young people in a poor neighborhood.
When one of them, Théodore Luhaka, was against the wall, Castelain dealt him a hard blow with his extendable baton, causing his sphincter to break.
Although he was initially detained at the police station, he was transported to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery due to severe bleeding.
The video surveillance cameras allowed the events to be revealed and the images published on social networks even shook the then French president, François Hollande, who visited the victim in the hospital.
For several weeks in 2017, Luhaka became a symbol against police violence in France towards inhabitants of the city's periphery, many of them of African origin. Several hundred young people were arrested in various parts of the country due to the protests at that time.
Castelain had indicated to the court that he learned the blow he used at the police academy and that is why he considered it “a legitimate blow.”
Deputy Thomas Portes showed images of protests outside the court and. on the X network, he stated that the families of victims of police violence do not receive justice.
“Enormous anger from the families of victims of police violence following the ruling on the beating of Théo by three police officers.”
«Pas de justice, pas de paix».
Enormous colère des familles de victimes de violences policières à la sortie du verdict concerning the passage à tabac de Théo par 3 policiers. pic.twitter.com/AmiaAeM09Z— Thomas Portes (@Portes_Thomas) January 19, 2024
French authorities regularly face complaints of police violence.
The June 2023 death of Nahel, a 17-year-old, shot by an officer during a traffic stop west of Paris, sparked several days of urban unrest.
With EFE AND AFP
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