Lallois on Belfort inquiry Charges and disputed arrest

Oct 2

At his October 4 briefing, Belfort prosecutor Paul-Édouard Lallois criticizes judgments based on edited videos and describes the inquiry opened after the October 2 assault on a plainclothes territorial-intelligence commander near Courbet lycée. He recounts the officer's account of following a youth previously identified over bin fires, restraining him at the Savoureuse, including the officer's reported account of pressing the youth's face against the water, a jammed handcuff and moving him to the bank before a group attacked the officer. Lallois says investigators measured a maximum water depth of 19 centimeters. He describes videos identifying the partly handcuffed youth kicking the fallen officer twice, other attackers and a colleague using a baton to drive them away. He reports the officer's injuries and an initial eight-day incapacity assessment; these are the prosecutor's reconstruction and medical-report account. He distinguishes an initial 17-year-old detained on October 2 at 11 a.m. from the two later suspects. Video review supported that first youth's explanation that he was present but had not struck the officer; he was released without charges around midday October 3. Lallois says four principal assailants were identified and that two Courbet pupils with no criminal records, aged 17½ and 15½, were arrested on Friday evening and late Friday afternoon respectively. He had withheld disclosure of the older youth's arrest to protect the investigation. The older youth is described as a Bulgarian national born in Russia, from a family with no adverse reports. According to Lallois, he admitted throwing stones, denied firing mortars, said he went to wash egg from his hands and admitted two kicks to the officer's head, expressing remorse and denying an intention to kill. Lallois describes phone videos showing September 30 bin fires, a newspaper photograph the youth identified as himself, and a recovered backpack containing face coverings, gloves, aerosols, lighters and a cleaning liquid. He recounts admissions of unsuccessful attempts to ignite a bin and diesel on a road. The younger youth admitted preparing a kick but said he diverted it at the last moment; Lallois says footage appears to contradict him and that his responsibility remains for the investigation to establish. Lallois says the older youth initially thought the officer was trying to drown him but later denied that interpretation after seeing the videos. He says the youth's interviews were filmed and conducted with a lawyer. He announces an October 4 judicial investigation against both minors and persons unknown for aggravated violence against a police officer, involving incapacity not exceeding eight days, rather than continuing the initial attempted-murder classification. Additional allegations against the older youth concern projectiles and dangerous property damage. Despite his lack of a record and reassuring social assessment, Lallois requests pretrial detention for the older minor. For the younger, he says age rules prevent detention and requests strict judicial supervision, placement outside Belfort, a curfew, contact and weapon prohibitions, and restrictions on demonstrations and proximity to other schools. Judicial decisions remain pending in this briefing. He says no separate inquiry into the riverbank arrest was opened, though its circumstances were examined as context for the officer-assault case. An unidentified questioner reports a complaint alleging attempted murder, citing information from the teenager's lawyer through AFP. Lallois says he has received no written complaint and none appears in the material he is describing, and criticizes the new lawyer's failure to inform him. He declines to pronounce the arrest lawful and says any complaint received will require legal examination and an appropriate response. When challenged about the youth's head being in the water, he explicitly says he is not asserting it was never in the water: he cites the measured depth, the youth's statements, the officer's denial of trying to drown or assault him, and minor shoulder scratches. Another answer attributes to the youth a desire to blockade school to avoid class and no specific political demands. The broadcast cuts away during his final explanation of the charge classification; this account does not supply the missing conclusion or later judicial outcomes.

France 2's October 2 account reports a plainclothes officer knocked down and repeatedly struck while arresting a young man in Belfort, a seventeen-year-old suspect detained, an attempted-murder inquiry and no danger to the officer's life. Its October 3 reconstruction places the initial arrest in a stream bed near Courbet High School, contrasts a witness's attempted-drowning interpretation with prosecutor Paul-Édouard Lallois's denial and ankle-deep-water explanation, and shows the officer attacked while leaving with the suspect. The follow-up says the officer left hospital on October 2 evening, one detained alleged attacker was released without charge and newly identified suspects would be questioned. Earlier detention reporting and later release are preserved as successive accounts; the witness allegation is not adopted as an established finding. In BFMTV's October 4 original briefing, Lallois gives a fuller attributed reconstruction: the commander followed a youth believed involved in earlier bin fires, restrained him at the Savoureuse, including the commander's reported account of pressing the youth's face against the water, encountered a jammed handcuff and was assaulted after moving toward the park. He says footage identifies the partly handcuffed youth delivering two kicks to the fallen officer's head, describes other attackers, and reports an initial eight-day incapacity assessment. He recounts the youth's admission of kicks, remorse and denial of intent to kill. The younger suspect admitted preparing a kick but denied contact; Lallois says footage appears to contradict that account and responsibility is still under investigation. On the riverbank restraint, he reports a measured maximum depth of 19 centimeters and the older youth's later denial that the officer tried to drown him, while preserving his initial impression. In questions, Lallois explicitly declines to assert the youth's head was never in the water and declines to rule the arrest lawful. This prosecutorial account does not resolve the witness interpretation aired by France 2. Later arrests, the first pupil's October 3 release and the October 4 judicial opening/public response are separately indexed developments.