RESISTING ARREST DOES NOT GIVE LICENCE

TO KILL Paris, 28 June 2023

In recent years, too many people - 13 in 2022 - have been killed by

police officers during simple road checks.

Yesterday, 17-year-old Nahel was shot dead by a police officer after

resisting arrest in Nanterre, just ten days after the death of 19-year-old
Alhousseine in Charente.

The French LDH (Ligue des droits de l'Homme) has repeated over and
again that police officers should only use weapons if absolutely
necessary, and should react with due restraint (stricte proportionnalité) in
other words in the event of a serious and imminent threat to their life or
physical integrity or that of others.

However, legislation adopted in 2017 further to Article L.435-1 of the

French Internal Security Code, and the 1 March 2017 memo issued by the
Direction Générale de la Police Nationale (DGPN) interpret the text
broadly, thus facilitating the use of weapons especially in cases of refus
d’obtempérer (refusal to comply or more generally, resisting arrest ndt).
This has created detrimental legal vagueness for so serious an act that
requires an extremely quick decision.
Outrage is no longer enough: we need to act. We need to act to obtain
justice for the families of Nahel, Alhousseine and the others. The false
assertions that perpetuate police impunity, the often misleading immediate
statements by the authorities, and the rhetoric that aims to give relative
importance to these deaths are unbearable. We must also act to end this
epidemic of homicides.
This is why the LDH is again calling for article L.435-1 to be repealed
and for police practices to be revised in depth.

To prevent the recurrence of these lethal acts, which are incompatible

with the principles of the rule of law, it is essential and urgent to build a
legal framework that is unambiguous for the police and protects us all..

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