Trial Opens in Deaths of 2 French Teenagers Fleeing the Police in 2005
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Version 0 of 1. PARIS — A decade ago, two teenagers were electrocuted when they hid in a transformer at an electrical substation while running from the police. Their deaths set off a wave of unrest that plunged the French suburbs into chaos. Now, two police officers are on trial in Rennes, in western France, on charges that they failed to assist the teenagers. The trial, which opened on Monday and will last five days, will determine whether the officers, Sébastien Gaillemin, 41, and Stéphanie Klein, 38, could have prevented the deaths of Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traoré, 15, in Clichy-sous-Bois, one of the epicenters of the 2005 unrest. The charges are being pressed by the boys’ families, who contend in a civil complaint that the officers violated a French law by failing to assist a person in danger, a punishable offense. A public prosecutor, after a police investigation into the case, had already concluded that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the police officers. The teenagers were both sons of working-class immigrants. Mr. Benna’s parents were from Tunisia and Mr. Traoré’s from Mauritania. The case of has become a symbol of the social unease in the suburbs, and complaints of discrimination against their residents, many of whom are also from immigrant families. After the deaths, described by the authorities as an accidental electrocution, hundreds of youths began burning cars and vandalizing bus stops in a wave of violence that spread to about 300 towns in suburban Paris and elsewhere in the country. The outburst was in part a reaction to a common complaint: that the police regularly harassed youths from housing projects, and intimidated them with rough treatment and humiliating questions. The tensions escalated after some government officials, including Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, who was France’s interior minister at the time, denied that the three teenagers (a third was injured in the substation), were being chased by the police. The case is also particularly significant now in the aftermath of the attacks in France in January, in which three gunmen of North African and sub-Saharan backgrounds, two of whom lived in the Paris suburbs, killed 17 people before they were themselves shot dead by the police. In January, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, during a traditional New Year’s speech, cited a deep divide in France, referring to a “territorial, social, ethnic apartheid” that has left many of those in the French suburbs feeling marginalized. The teenagers’ families maintain that their deaths could have been avoided, and pressed for a trial to shed light on the circumstances, which they see as a way to expose the causes underlying the 2005 unrest. The case has gone through numerous twists and turns, and the start of the trial is in itself seen as a victory for the families. ”The case exposes the public policy that was disastrous in the suburbs,” said Jean-Pierre Mignard, the lawyer for the families, who said the case has profound political and social implications. Adel Benna, Zyed’s brother, told BFM TV on Monday that the trial was necessary to mourn the victims, but also to “save the honor” of his brother, “who went from being a victim to being a delinquent.” If convicted, Mr. Gaillemin and Ms. Klein will face up to five years in jail, and a $79,000 fine. According to police files, the episode started on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, when a squad of police officers arrived at a construction site in Livry-Gargan, a suburb near Clichy-sous-Bois, in response to a report that a group of young people were vandalizing property. Mr. Benna, Mr. Traoré and their friend, Muhittin Altun, were walking back from a soccer game near the construction site when they heard police officers and started running to avoid identity checks, the family contends. They jumped over a fence at a power station and hid in a transformer. Both Mr. Benna and Mr. Traoré were electrocuted while Mr. Altun, who was badly burned, survived. A lawyer for Mr. Gaillemin said his client saw the teenagers, but could not have helped them because he did not even know they were in the substation. ”My client who was there never knew for sure that the boys were in the site,” said Daniel Merchat, who represents both officers. |