Police Murders and Banlieues: The Breil Neighborhood in Nantes Is Mourning and Revolting - THE FUNAMBULIST MAGAZINE
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The horrible dimension of this story comes as much from the tragedy of a 22-year-old life, violently interrupted in terribles circumstances, as the sinister familiarity that it triggers in us — this familiarity was pointed out by Aboubakar’s cousin himself when I met him last Friday. The first component of this familiarity is the one that consists for media to simultaneously describe the scene basing their story solely on the police narrative, and contribute to denigrating the victim’s past and personality to suggest a certain legitimacy to his death. The second is a scene of crime deserted by the investigators in such a way that any additional items later found will be deemed unacceptable. Similarly, the testimonies of the neighborhood witnesses — I met one who had done a declaration at the IGPN (the police of polices) — does not appear in the investigation; some people who had filmed fragments of the event were even intimated to delete their videos. It is also the murderer’s narrative that claims self-defense before admitting having lied et since then claiming an accident. Following him in this version, the Nantes court charged him (before releasing him) with “volontary violence having lead to death without the intention to trigger it” instead of first-degree murder. Finally, it is the familiarity of the victim’s family’s dignity that, despite all, called for an appeasement in the neighborhood during the revolt described below; an additional responsibility imposed onto those who do not have the luxury to only represent themselves. His cousin’s discourse is also conciliatory: “it could have happened to anyone,” “we’re not saying anything else than one cop killed him.”