Several lawyers will seize the Court of Justice of the Republic against Laurent Nuñez after the injuries inflicted on demonstrators

The lawyers of at least 18 people injured during social mobilizations in France announced their intention to take the matter to the Court of Justice of the Republic against the Minister of the Interior, Friday November 6. These five lawyers criticize Laurent Nuñez for the orders passed during the high school mobilization and the days of social movement since October 17, in particular concerning the use of intermediate weapons in the context of maintaining order, such as grenades or LBDs. These lawyers represent at least 18 injured people.

The Minister of the Interior "knows what damage will be caused" by using these "mutilating weapons", estimated Arié Alimi, one of the lawyers, who represents several of these victims of serious injuries during the demonstrations and blockades organized since the end of September. “There is an obvious intention on the part of Laurent Nuñez,” he declared during this press conference in the premises of the Human Rights League in Paris, which franceinfo attended.

Until now, "we have used serious qualifications (...), today we think 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", specified Arié Alimi. “These weapons can kill,” explained the lawyer, who calls for a “solemn, important, collective” approach.

Laurent Nuñez says he is “serene”

The CJR has jurisdiction over facts which target ministers in office. The referral aimed at the Minister of the Interior concerns acts of “violence or attempted murder by instigation, that is to say complicity”. “It is he who gives the orders and the acts committed by the police officers in demonstration result from the orders given,” explained Arié Alimi. The lawyers also clarified that they had to obtain the consent of their clients before filing this complaint. “We are going to give ourselves 15 days to three weeks to finalize all of this.”

“It’s absolutely terrifying, it’s an unprecedented repression of a social demonstration which mainly mobilizes children,” Emmanuelle Jourdan-Chartier, vice-president of the Human Rights League, told ICI. She denounced "a drift in the maintenance of order" given "the concentration of violence over such a short period of time" and targeting "a huge number of children". “Maintaining order that tears off hands, that leads to the loss of an eye, is not proportionate,” she adds.

Referring to the complaints being prepared against him, the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, defended the “indispensable” use of intermediate weapons, “which are done within a legal and regulatory framework”. “I will be ready to respond to any complaint that is filed against me and I am very calm and very straight in my boots,” he assured Friday evening at a press conference.