Investigation. They will appear on September 3 in Évreux for having made racist remarks against a black colleague, in a WhatsApp discussion.
The five police officers were dismissed. (Photo illustration Adobe Stock)
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Five former police officers will appear on September 3, 2021 in Évreux for having made racist remarks against a former black colleague in a WhatsApp discussion group, said Monday, May 3, 2021 the prosecutor of the Republic of Évreux, Dominique Puechmaille.
Returned to the police court for acts of non-public insults of a racist nature, the former police officers incur a fifth class fine.
“Hateful” messages
As Paris Normandie revealed from January 17, 2020, The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IPGN) was seized on January 16 by the Rouen prosecutor’s office following the complaint filed at the end of December 2019 by a Rouen police officer against his colleagues from the Administrative and Legal Assistance Unit (UAAJ). The complaint was filed for “Racial abuse”, “Incitement to hatred” and “Defamation”.
It all started when the complainant saw, on a colleague’s cell phone, the content of a conversation between a dozen police officers from this unit, on WhatsApp instant messaging. Astonished, the black policeman then became aware of the racist insults, of which he was the target.
“But that’s not all: other messages just as hateful, just as racist, homophobic, xenophobic, concern the people for whom these police officers are in charge at the courthouse”, specified a judicial source in our columns, at the time of the denunciation of the facts. “In these WhatsApp conversations, there is a whole litany of comments that are nauseating, it is so disgusting. There are pages and pages », she continued.
According to several other sources close to the case, the conversation on WhatsApp also included malicious considerations on some magistrates. Moreover, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Yaël Godefroy, the file was disoriented in Évreux, because certain messages referred concerned Rouen magistrates.
Three peacekeepers from Rouen had been dismissed on September 11, 2020, they were criticized in particular for “breach of the duty to set an example by behavior unworthy of office”, according to the general direction of the national police. A student peacekeeper was also excluded while the contract of a security assistant (ADS), also implicated, was terminated.
A preliminary investigation had been opened and the IGPN seized “for various offenses, in particular aggravated non-public defamation and non-public incitement to discrimination”.
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