US EditionFrench Policeman to Be Tried over 2023 Killing of Teen
The officer faces trial for violence causing death after an appeals court rejected murder charges, amid public outcry over police conduct and racial profiling in France.
- On Thursday, the Versailles appeals court ordered Florian M., police officer, to stand trial for violence that led to death in criminal court without a jury.
- On June 27, 2023, a traffic stop resulted in Nahel Merzouk, 17-year-old, being shot while mobile phone footage showed an officer firing at a stationary car, contradicting the police account that the car drove at officers.
- Defence lawyers maintained that few alleged police brutality cases reach criminal court in France, and Laurent-Franck Lienard, lawyer for the officer, said Florian M. was released after five months in detention in November 2023.
- Public demonstrations followed, including a June 29, 2024 silent march in Nanterre, west of Paris, as Frank Berton, attorney for Merzouk's mother, called the court decision `scandalous` and `shameful`.
- Amid other high-profile rulings, the case follows broader scrutiny of policing after last year's European Court of Human Rights ruling and last month's decisions by France's top court and appeals from the Adama Traore family.
48 Articles
48 Articles
The Court of Appeal of Versailles held that the "intention of homicide" of the police officer who fired was not established and ordered him to be tried for "fatal blows." Against the opinion of the investigating judges, the Attorney General's Office and the civil parties.
The Straits Times
The Star Kuala LumpurFrench appeals court lowers charges against police officer facing trial for killing of teenager
PARIS, March 5 - A French police officer initially charged with murder in the deadly shooting of a teenager in 2023 will instead stand trial for the lesser charge of voluntary assault leading to death, the Versailles appeals court said on Thursday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The Court of Appeal of Versailles announced this Thursday, March 5, the dismissal of police officer Florian M., author of the shooting against Nahel Merzouk in June 2023 in Nanterre, before the departmental criminal court of the Hauts-de-Seine for "voluntary violence that led to the death without intent to give it", and no longer for murder. This choice marks a reversal of the orientation chosen in the first instance.
On Thursday, March 5, 2026, French justice ordered that the policeman who killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk in the Paris region on June 27, 2023, be tried for violence that led to the death without intent to give it up, not for murder. The death of young Nahel had caused several nights of riots in France.
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