French police officer to face trial over teen's killing that ignited 2023 riots

PARIS, June 4 — A French policeman who shot and killed a teenager at point-blank range in 2023 in a Paris suburb, sparking days of riots, is to go on trial charged with murder, a court said Tuesday.
The trial of the officer, who has been charged with the murder of Nahel Merzouk, 17, could take place in the second or third quarter of 2026, the court in the Nanterre suburb, where the killing took place, said in a joint statement with investigating magistrates.
The announcement coincides with rising tensions in France after attacks against Muslims in recent weeks, as well as the burning of a Quran in the south-east of the country.
The officer, identified as Florian M., was released from custody in November 2023 after five months in detention.
Mobile phone footage of an officer shooting Nahel inside a car during a traffic stop on a busy street went viral. The scene sparked anger and protests that degenerated into rioting and led to scenes of devastation nationwide.
The police initially maintained that Nahel had driven his car at the officer. But this was contradicted by the video, which showed two officers standing at a stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at its driver.
'Nothing shows Florian M. was authorised in the circumstances to use his weapon, in violation of the principles of proportionality and absolute necessity,' according to the written order issued by two investigating magistrates for the trial, which was seen by AFP.
'Law applied'
However legal proceedings were dropped against the accused officer's colleague who was present during the incident. He had been investigated as an 'assisted witness', which in the French system is one step before being charged.
'This order for a trial is both disappointing and not surprising,' said Laurent-Franck Lienard, Florian M.'s lawyer, explaining that the investigating judge was always likely to follow the prosecution's push for a trial.
The lawyer told AFP he would lodge an appeal against the order.
'We maintain that the shooting was legitimate,' he said.
Eric Henry, of the Alliance police union which has vigorously defended the actions of the police officer, told CNews TV the announcement of the trial sent 'a disastrous signal to our colleague, to the police world'.
But Frank Berton, a lawyer for Nahel's mother Mounia Merzouk, said he was satisfied with the decision to move to a trial.
'We are just seeing the law being applied,' he said. 'Now all that remains is to convince the court.'
The move to try the officer over the death of Nahel, who was of north African origin, comes as new tensions have emerged over racism and security in France.
A man who had posted racist videos shot dead his Tunisian neighbour and badly wounded a Turkish man in the south of France at the weekend, and a Malian man was stabbed to death in a mosque in April.
'Racism is not France'
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who is taking an increasingly hard line on immigration issues, has faced accusations of not bring firm enough against such crimes and even fuelling a racist climate.
But he said on Tuesday that the killing of Tunisian Hichem Miraoui in Puget-sur-Argens was 'clearly a racist crime,' 'probably also anti-Muslim,' and 'perhaps also a terrorist crime.'
'Racism is not France,' Retailleau told the National Assembly.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, the suspect in that killing, who is under arrest, said he 'swore allegiance to the French flag' and called on the French to 'shoot' people of foreign origin in one of his videos posted on social media.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the case, the first such racist attack linked to the far right to be dealt with as 'terrorism' since their office was set up in 2019.
Meanwhile, a person stole a Quran on the night of Sunday to Monday from a mosque near the southeastern French city of Lyon and set it on fire, religious leaders and a police source said Tuesday. — AFP

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