This 33 -year -old father had succumbed to “slow mechanical asphyxiation”, linked to two strangulation keys. The three police officers were found guilty of “faults” in direct connection with the death of Amadou Koumé.
Le Monde with AFP
The Paris Criminal Court condemned, Tuesday, September 20, three police officers to fifteen months suspended sentence for manslaughter, after the death, on March 6, 2015, of Amadou Koumé during his arrest in a bar of the capital. This 33-year-old father, that evening in dementia crisis, had succumbed to a “slow mechanical asphyxiation”, linked to two strangulation keys and his maintenance on the ground in total more than six minutes on the belly, hands handcuffed in the back.
The court condemned the same penalty Anthony B., 46, the peacekeeper author of strangulation gestures, Sébastien P., 48, at the time of Brigadier, who pressed his knee on the Lumbar and on the arm of Amadou Koumé, and Major Didier M., 62, higher ranked that evening. They were found guilty of “faults” in direct connection with the death of Mr. Koumé, the first for his use of force, “certainly legitimate”, but “insufficiently mastered”, as well as for having left the victim in the ventral position without inquiring with his state of health.
Sébastien P. showed an “obvious lack of discernment” in “not interesting to [his] state of health after a very hectic arrest” and while he represented at that time “No more danger,” said court. Didier M. was guilty of “a succession of negligence and breaches” as “responsible for the operation”, present in the bar, during the van transport and on arrival at the police station, where the Death of Mr. Koumé was noted.
“There is a piece of justice which is made”
More than seven years after his death, the family, whose complaint with the constitution of a civil party had relaunched the investigations after a classification without follow -up, had come to hear the decision in court on Thursday morning. “Hearing the word guilty, of course, is a satisfaction in such a file, but the penalty is relatively mild, so there is a piece of justice that is rendered,” reacted M e Eddy Arneton, their lawyer.
“It will not bring Amadou Koumé back, nevertheless his family knows today in a precise way the circumstances in which he died and also knows that his death is due to police officers, so it’s a step, and We welcome him as such, “he added.
The council of Anthony B. did not wish to express himself immediately. The defense, which had argued the release during the trial, which was held from June 27 to July 4, has ten days to appeal. The prosecutor had requested a year in suspended prison under the three police officers. Controversial technique, the strangulation key, prohibited in the gendarmerie and officially replaced in 2021 in the police, is at the heart of several investigations open after the death of men arrested.