Controversial police shootings bill advances in France

Rules governing when French police and gendarmes may use firearms could be relaxed after French MPs voted in favour of a bill requiring investigating judges to presume that officers were acting lawfully when they discharged their weapons.

The bill was brought forward by Eric Pauget (Les Républicains) and will now be considered by senators. 

The Senate’s right-wing majority means there is a strong possibility it will be approved without significant delay.

However, if enacted, the legislation would not necessarily be implemented in practice. 

Left-wing opponents sought to delay the bill’s passage, describing it as “permission to kill XXL” and said they would bring a case against the French state before the European Court of Human Rights for breaching the “right to life.”

A public petition on the Assemblée Nationale website, promoted primarily by the far-left party La France Insoumise, has attracted more than 700,000 signatures as of July 20. You can find the petition here. 

Controversial shooting cases

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has previously ruled against France in the case of Rémi Fraisse, a young environmental activist who died in 2014 after a stun grenade thrown by a gendarme became lodged between his rucksack and neck before exploding.

In its judgment, the ECHR identified what it described as judicial and administrative shortcomings in the regulation and use of force by French police and gendarmes.

In 2023, the fatal shooting in Nanterre of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk by a police officer, who was filmed appearing to fire at close range through the car window while Merzouk was seated in the driver’s seat, prompted a week of riots across France.

Body-camera footage was subsequently lost during the investigation after authorities said it had been erased by mistake. 

The case remains ongoing. In June, France’s highest judicial court, the Cour de cassation, ruled that an attempt by prosecutors to try the officer for involuntary homicide rather than murder had been incorrect.

‘Bury all hope of justice’

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez defended the proposed change during an interview on French TV, saying concerns about its impact were misplaced.

“This presumption (that the officers were acting correctly) can be overturned during an investigation at any moment if necessary,” he said.

“It will be up to the prosecutor to decide.”

However, Yassine Bouzrou, a lawyer who has represented the families of fatal police shooting victims, said during the same programme that the proposed law “will bury all hope of justice for victims.

“Even today, investigations are already biased because magistrates are reluctant to challenge the police account of events,” he said.

“Tomorrow, with this presumption of legitimacy, every investigation will become little more than a formality.”

Under the current system, following a shooting the weapon used is seized by investigators, while the officer or officers involved are immediately placed in garde à vue (police custody), a procedure intended to ensure the investigation begins on a sound judicial basis.

Once the investigation has concluded, investigating magistrates consult with a prosecutor to determine whether any further legal action should be taken.

French police officers and gendarmes have long been routinely armed, and the use of firearms has frequently been a source of political controversy.

Rules on police using weapons in France

When the Gendarmerie was transferred from the operational and budgetary control of the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of the Interior in 2009, differing rules governing the use of firearms by the two forces became a source of tension.

Police officers were permitted to use their weapons only in cases of legitimate self-defence, meaning when they were directly threatened.

Gendarmes operated under broader powers, allowing them to use firearms not only in self-defence but also to protect others facing an immediate threat.

They were also authorised to use lethal force to defend a designated security perimeter from attack, provided warning shots had first been fired, and against moving vehicles considered to pose a threat to life.

In 2017, the rules were revised to place police officers and gendarmes on the same legal footing, extending the broader powers previously available to the Gendarmerie to police officers.

Since then, a number of controversial shootings have attracted public attention, with the incident involving Mr Merzouk becoming the most prominent.

Another recent case concerns the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Alhoussein Camara by a police officer in the Saint-Yrieix district of Angoulême in the early hours of June 14, 2023.

Mr Camara was shot in the back at traffic lights while driving alone to an early shift at a supermarket warehouse.

The officer said Mr Camara attempted to drive away through a red light as he approached the vehicle to carry out an identity check.

The incident was not recorded by any member of the public, while police said the officer’s body-worn camera had failed to record because its battery was flat.

It was the officer’s first day back on duty after being injured in an earlier incident involving a driver who failed to stop when instructed. The case remains under investigation.