Complaint Filed Amid Allegations of Violence
The family of a 35-year-old Mauritanian man, El Hacen Diarra, who died overnight Wednesday to Thursday while in police custody at a station in Paris’s 20th arrondissement, has filed a legal complaint. They allege police violence, citing video evidence, and are demanding the appointment of an independent investigating magistrate.
Their lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou, announced on Saturday, January 17, that a complaint for “intentional violence resulting in death” had been filed. In a statement, he argued this action was necessary “given the failure of the public prosecutor to refer the case to an investigating magistrate, while the circumstances of this tragedy are marked by damning evidence.”
Video Evidence and Conflicting Accounts
The complaint is supported by a video, filmed at night by neighbors, which the lawyer says shows “violence committed against him during his arrest.” The footage reportedly shows two police officers, one kneeling, throwing two punches toward a man pinned to the ground before colleagues arrive by car a minute later.
“Witnesses saw a pool of blood at the scene of the arrest, attesting to the extreme violence suffered by El Hacen Diarra (…). Upon his arrival at the police station, the officers themselves deemed immediate hospitalization necessary,” Me Bouzrou stated.
He linked the incident to the station’s history, referencing two prior convictions for violence and sexual assaults on detainees between 2019 and 2021.
Official Version of Events
Following the death, the Paris prosecutor’s office stated it had opened an investigation into the “causes of death” and referred it to the IGPN, the police oversight body.
According to the prosecutor’s account, officers approached Diarra after seeing him “rolling a cannabis joint.” His family claims he was “simply drinking a coffee outside his residence” when police approached. The prosecutor stated that after Diarra refused to submit to a search, a struggle ensued where he fell to the ground, taking two officers with him. An officer reported using a Taser, hitting him in the ankle.
Arrested at 10:45 PM, Diarra was taken to the station without further incident and tested negative for alcohol. The prosecutor said he was found with false administrative documents and a brown substance resembling cannabis, leading to his custody for using false documents, drug possession, and “rebellion.”
The prosecutor’s account states that an officer requested hospital transport due to a wound on Diarra’s eyebrow. While waiting on a bench at the station, he reportedly fainted, suffered cardiac arrest, and received CPR from an officer and later firefighters. He was pronounced dead at 12:20 AM.
Calls for Transparency and a Political Response
The family’s lawyer condemned what he called “media allegations by the public prosecutor, which with complete partiality repeat the sole version of the police officers.” He expressed concern that the failure to place the officers in custody or appoint an independent judge suggests an intent “to exonerate the police of any responsibility.” The Paris prosecutor’s office did not respond to this criticism.
A rally in homage to El Hacen Diarra is scheduled for Sunday, with several left-wing Parisian figures, including former LFI MP Danielle Simonnet, Communist Senator Ian Brossat, and LFI MP Rima Hassan, calling for participation.
