How did Adama Traoré die on July 19, 2016, on his 24th birthday? Almost four years after the fact, the investigation is still ongoing and the reasons for his death are not clearly established. However, in recent days, what was previously only a court case, is becoming, echoing the death of George Floyd, in the United States, an emblematic case of police violence.
What happened on this hot day, in Beaumont-sur-Oise (Val-d’Oise)? The gendarmes were looking for Bagui Traoré, suspected of extortion. When he saw them, his brother Adama, who was with him, ran away. Catched for the first time, he managed to escape and took refuge with a local resident where he hid in a sheet. In vain. Three gendarmes had managed to control him and handcuff him. Complaining of breathing difficulties during the trip to the Persian barracks, Adama Traoré died about two hours after his arrest.
Since then, the case has been disoriented in Paris, the Pontoise prosecutor being accused by the Traoré family of wanting to attribute the young man’s death to a serious infection
, without taking into account a possible asphyxiation at the time of his arrest. For a long time now, the expert opinions ordered by the three investigating judges have responded those carried out by the family of the victim.
Two witnesses to be heard
According to the latest legal expert report, Adama Traoré died of cardiogenic edema which was caused by the association of pulmonary sarcoidosis
(rare pathology, note), hypertrophic heart disease and sickle cell trait
(a genetic disease, editor’s note) . In other words, the physical pressure exerted by the weight of the gendarmes on the body of Adama Traore, at the time of his arrest, would not be in question. During his interrogation, a gendarme is said to have declared that the young man took the weight of all three of our bodies
…
However, Tuesday, June 9, in a statement, the lawyers of the three gendarmes who are not under investigation, maintained that at no time
these only had puts the weight of their bodies on Adama Traoré
. One would have overpowered his legs, a second an arm and the third would have handcuffed him. Who to believe?
To shed light, the Traoré family demands a reconstruction. In vain in the immediate. It is however important because it would allow to know how long the tackle on the ground lasted. Now, it probably lasted a long time
, believes Me Yassine Bouzrou, the family’s lawyer.
The judges will hear two witnesses in July: the man with whom Adama Traore had taken refuge before his arrest and a woman who said he had witnessed the first attempt at arrest. Four years later…
– .