Justice re-examines the case of the police officer who killed Nahel Merzouk in Versailles

Justice will examine again on Tuesday in Versailles the appeal filed by the defense of the police officer who killed Nahel Merzouk, initially prosecuted for murder, after the annulment by the Court of Cassation of the reclassification of the facts as violence.

By canceling the reclassification of the facts in June, the highest judicial court had reopened the way to a trial for the murder of Florian M. and referred the case to the investigating chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal.

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It will therefore once again have to rule on the charge for which the police officer is dismissed and study the request for dismissal from the defense on Tuesday during a closed hearing. Its decision, which will probably be deliberated and rendered at a later date, may be subject to new appeals.

A shot “in accordance with the legal framework” according to the defense

“We call on the investigating chamber to draw, this time, the necessary legal consequences and to retain the appropriate qualification, that is to say murder,” declared in a press release on social networks the Justice pour Nahel collective, of which Mounia Merzouk, his mother, is a member. “We thus reaffirm that it is not up to the investigating chamber to create a pseudo exceptional status with regard to police officers,” adds the press release.

For the defense, Florian M.'s shooting was on the contrary "legitimate" and "in accordance with the legal framework", his lawyer, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard, had previously told AFP. Nahel Merzouk was killed on June 27, 2023 in Nanterre by a bullet fired at close range during a road check, at the age of 17. His death, which became a symbol of police violence, was the cause of several nights of riots across France.

On June 3, 2025, after two years of investigations, two investigating judges ordered the referral of Florian M. to the Assize Court for murder, in accordance with the requisitions of the Nanterre public prosecutor's office. The police officer appealed this order. In March, the Versailles Court of Appeal ordered that the official be dismissed for violence leading to death without intention of causing it. She also confirmed the dismissal of charges for the second police officer present during the intervention. In June, the Court of Cassation validated this dismissal contested by the civil parties, only canceling the reclassification of the facts for Florian M.