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Paris Custody Death: Judge Opens Inquiry Into Alleged Police Violence as Interior Minister Rejects Suspensions

The initial autopsy left the cause unresolved, with further forensic analyses now pending.

Overview

  • Paris prosecutors opened a judicial investigation for voluntary violence causing death by a public official and assigned the IGPN, placing a judge in charge of the case.
  • The family and their lawyer demand the immediate custody of the involved officers and their suspension, citing a neighbor’s video showing punches and audio they say captures the words “You’re strangling me.”
  • Autopsy findings noted a deep temporal wound and a fracture of the thyroid cartilage horn, which the family links to strangulation, while prosecutors say causality is unproven pending toxicology and anatomopathology results due in weeks.
  • Investigators report no body‑camera footage due to depleted batteries and no public CCTV of the arrest or transport; station cameras show the detainee appearing exhausted before collapsing as officers attempt to assist, and a witness appeal is underway.
  • Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said there is no reason to suspend the officers during the process, as civil‑society groups press for suspensions and a weekend homage drew several hundred to about a thousand people.