Injured demonstrators: lawyers declare seizing the Court of Justice against Laurent Nuñez

The lawyers of at least 18 people injured during social mobilization in France against the high cost of living and study conditions announced on Friday their intention to take the matter to the Court of Justice against the Minister of the Interior.

Until now "we have used serious qualifications (...), we think today that it is imperative to target the one who is at the origin of the mutilations and massive damage, namely the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez (...) for the orders he gave for the use of these weapons which he knows are mutilating, which he knows are weapons of war, which he knows should not be used in maintaining order", declared Maître Arié Alimi during a press conference in Paris to present this collective complaint which will be presented within “three weeks”.

He indicated that this collective complaint would be presented within “three weeks”. “All cases are not at the same level of progress,” said Me Elsa Marcel, who notably defends a teenager seriously injured in the jaw in front of a high school in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône (Val-d'Oise) by a tense shot from a tear gas grenade launcher. “We are going to make requests for documents to trace the chain of responsibility,” added the lawyer.

For the moment, around ten of their clients have given their consent to sign this collective complaint before the CJR, the only court capable of judging members of the government for acts committed in the exercise of their functions, their advisers clarified on Friday. The qualifications “to obtain the prosecution of Laurent Nuñez before this body – because the crimes that we believe he committed by complicity are multiple –” could include “voluntary violence leading to mutilations” or “complicity by instigation being also targeted for Mr. Laurent Nuñez,” added Me Alimi.

The AFP counted around twenty serious injuries, ranging from torn off hands, a broken jaw or even the loss of an eye, inflicted by defensive bullet throwers or grenade shots, during demonstrations since mid-September by high schools and students and the social movement against the high cost of living.

According to a count established as of October 30, the General Inspectorate of the National Police received 105 investigations, including 52 in the context of the high school movement, 48 for violence on October 17 and 18, and five for events that occurred on October 24, according to a source close to the matter.