Police violence

This did not change his view of things, quite the contrary. Mathieu Rigouste, 41, an independent researcher in social sciences, particularly on police violence, has been living an endless legal battle for ten years. Twelve referrals to the counter. Impressive figures which make say, on January 5, to the judge of the judicial court of Toulouse that she has “never seen that in [sa] career”.

On the night of June 21 to 22, 2013, during the Fête de la Musique in Toulouse, Mathieu Rigouste found himself in the heart of the Arnaud-Bernard district, a place where the police presence is generally important, in particular to deal with the traffic in cigarettes which is are visible to all on the square and the small surrounding streets. It is almost 4 a.m. when the researcher comes out of the nightclub.

A brawl breaks out, Mathieu Rigouste and his friends find themselves involved. The fight attracts two crews from the anti-crime brigade (BAC) who intervene quickly. From there, two versions clash. According to the police, Mathieu Rigouste would have copiously insulted the officers. “The BAC son of a bitch, bunch of fachos, go fuck your mothers, go fuck yourselves.” Drunk, he would then have attacked a sub-brigadier by throwing himself on him “both feet forward” then bringing him “a punch in the face”. Hence a complaint for “violence against persons holding public authority” et «outrage».

A “great classic”

However, as we know, contempt has for years become the secret weapon of police officers implicated in cases, in particular, of police violence. “It’s the great classic”, ironically Mathieu Rigouste. “It’s an unfortunate affair which has confirmed the analytical models that I was already defending”, explains the researcher. His misadventure ironically comes a few months after the publication of his book Police Domination: Industrial Violence, who studies, among other things, “the possibility of police violence” and one “judicial impunity system”. “There is complete impunitydenounces Mathieu Rigouste. The police are only very rarely condemned, sometimes in stories much more catastrophic than mine. “Worse, some police officers implicated in cases can be promoted, he adds, because they are recognized for having had to endure the media and popular vindictiveness”this with the help of the police unions.

His trial therefore took place on 5 January. And the version of the police did not particularly convince the prosecutor. The latter indeed considered that it would be “difficult to condemn Mathieu Rigouste for acts of violence”. It is that the speeches of the police officers do not seem to correspond. “There is not one who says the same thing”blows the researcher, specifying: “One charges me with violence against another police officer who does not declare this violence. Another explains that I would have punched a policeman in the back who explains that in fact he made himself a lumbago all by himself by putting the handcuffs on me. A gloubi-boulga who convinced the prosecution to ask only for a conviction for «outrage» and a fine of 300 euros.

“Important to bring the truth to life”

The respondent took the time to tell “the handcuffs to the bone and then the whole weight of [s]one body pulled several meters by the chain of these handcuffs”. “I felt my wrist break, I screamed.” The blows to his skull, the insults at the police station and then new violence. “I was taken by the neck to bang my head against a wall and another person opened a swinging door with my headreports Mediapart, who attended the trial. I was then thrown to the ground where I spent an hour repeating: “I am in pain ! Loosen my handcuffs! Why did you do this to me?” I took kicks in the ribs. Then I was taken to the hospital.” The balance sheet of injuries observed by the doctors is evocative: fracture of the left wrist, facial trauma with hematoma, periorbital edema, a wound on the lower lip and a contusion on the right ankle.

“They put my head in the walls, handcuffed from behind, I never saw the face of the police who did this to mesays the researcher. The trial allowed me to see for the first time the face of one of the agents who was in the crew. Mathieu Rigouste filed a complaint against the agents on October 28, 2014, triggering the opening of an investigation for “violence by a person holding public authority followed by incapacity not exceeding eight days”. After a dismissal in 2021, he appealed and the file should be reviewed in February. “I consider it important to bring the truth to life and we have no other solution than to carry it ourselves.”