Through the voice of Assa Traoré, sister of the deceased, the “Justice for Adama” Committee called for demonstrations on February 12 in order to fight against discrimination and violence.
This march in memory of Adama Traoré took place while the investigation has been going on for almost 6 years and the investigation is stalling according to the committee. It is also a way of denouncing injustice, violence and racism, while demanding justice for Adama.
Last year, on June 13, 2021, the march brought together tens of thousands of people in Paris.
While the family’s lawyer asked for a 3rd reconstitution on February 3, the “Justice for Adama” Committee demonstrated before receiving the results on February 15. It should be remembered that the first 2 requests for reconstitution had been refused despite the favorable opinion of the General Prosecutor’s Office for one of them.
The judges had requested a medical expertise, which the family rejected, to determine the causes of Adama Traoré’s death. They presented a medical certificate dating from 2014, 2 years before the death of the victim, thinking that the expertise could be different.
In a letter consulted by France Info, addressed to the investigating judge on February 1, the lawyer for the Yassine Bouzrou family, denounces the “partiality” and the “refusal to seek the truth” on the part of the judge, keeping his arguments for the trial chamber. where “a debate on the usefulness of this reconstruction would be appropriate “for the manifestation of the truth”.
Recall of facts
On January 19, 2016, Adama Traore died at the age of 24, at the Persian Gendarmerie (95) following his arrest. A long court case ensued, with 10 expert reports requested to date.
According to the Traoré family, the intervention technique of the gendarmes during the arrest would have caused the death of Adama.
What the family wants
The family is asking for a public trial to denounce this “denial of justice”. For Adama’s sister, Assa Traoré, “Everyone must be able to hear from their own mouths (the 3 gendarmes) what happened on January 19, 2016”.
According to her, “The gendarme should be indicted, because the expertise has spoken: the one that justice has mandated and the one that we have done in parallel with Michael Baden, ‘American expert on George Floyd. The forensic expert who had carried out the he autopsy of the African-American, who died in May 2020 of asphyxiation during his arrest in Minneapolis (USA), returned his report to the family in March 2021, questioning the responsibility of the gendarmes.
Following the addition of the medical certificate by the judge and the sealing of the latter, the Traoré family filed a complaint against the judge, not being able to consult the document. This is why the family lawyer filed a 3rd request for reconstitution of the arrest, this beginning of February. “This reconstruction that we have been asking for for 5 years has always been refused by the courts because the truth does not correspond to their statements,” said Assa Traoré.
In addition, the 4 experts mandated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights observed a “slowness of the investigation” and a “absence of indictment”. They also sent a letter to the French government in November 2021 and pointed out the lack of consideration of a possible racist motive.
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