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A gendarme was sentenced to six months suspended prison sentence, Tuesday, January 8, in Toulouse, for having injured by a jet of grenade désencclement an opponent to the dam project in Sivens (Tarn). The conviction with a ban on carrying a weapon is less severe than the requisitions of the prosecutor Pierre Couttenier who had required eight months suspended.
The events took place in October 2014 three weeks before the death on the same site of Rémi Fraisse, a 21-year-old environmental activist killed by a grenade fired by another gendarme during a demonstration.
"There was no threat, it was a mistake on my part", recognized at the bar the 49-year-old gendarme, accused of throwing a grenade inside a caravan where the victim was.
"Act of violence"
Judged in the Toulouse Criminal Court for "Voluntary violence resulting in a fifteen-day ITT with a weapon by person in charge of the public authority"this quartermaster of Gaillac had maintained during the investigation that he felt threatened.
"You are not the author of negligence, recklessness or inattention. You have voluntarily used a weapon, you have committed an act of violence ", launched in his indictment Pierre Couttenier.
In her argument, the plaintiff's lawyer, Me Claire Dujardin considered that the use of this weapon outside the " legal framework " was "A very serious mistake for a professional". The lawyer announced that she was aiming, beyond the individual fault, the challenge in a subsequent procedure "The responsibility of the state".
Now 29, the victim, who requested anonymity, was wounded in the hand by wanting to throw the projectile out of the caravan. She said she thought it was a tear gas grenade.
"At no time did I want to throw the grenade inside", "I started it by moving, I did not see where I was going"said the defendant at the helm. On a video filmed from inside the caravan and shown to the audience, after being broadcast on Youtube, the gendarme summon the occupants to get out of the caravan before throwing the grenade.
During the investigation, gendarmes testified that their colleague "Was going through a difficult period due to a separation". The soldier also explained at the bar that he was exhausted at the time by repeated missions.
Deseasoning grenades in question
The witnesses convened by the civil party turned the audience into a forum against so-called "non-lethal" weapons and, in particular, the grenades of désencclement.
Among them, Laurent Théron, a 49-year-old caregiver, said he was disfigured and lost an eye while demonstrating in Paris against the labor law in September 2016. This type of grenades is "An extremely dangerous weapon and used outside any setting", he said.
Since the launch of the "yellow vests" movement on November 17, "Twelve people lost one eye and four had one hand torn off" has, for its part, put forward an activist of the collective Desarmons-les! which fights for the prohibition of the use by the police of the so-called "non-lethal" weapons.
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