San Francisco Frontiers - French court rejects bid to reopen probe into black man's death in custody

The Court of Cassation's decision came nearly a decade after the death of 24-year-old Adama Traore following his arrest in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, a case that fuelled accusations of police brutality and racism.

Traore's family was contesting a 2024 appeal court ruling confirming a prior decision to drop the case, after an investigation led to no charges against the military policemen -- or gendarmes -- involved.

Three gendarmes pursued the young man on July 19, 2016, when temperatures reached nearly 37C, pinning him down in an apartment, after which he told officers he was "having trouble breathing".

He then fainted during the journey to a gendarmerie station, where he died.

The Court of Cassation upheld the reasoning that the assistance provided by the gendarmes to Traore was appropriate "to their awareness of the danger involved".

"No gross negligence was established on the part of the gendarmes that exposed Adama Traore to a particularly serious risk," the judges wrote in a ruling seen by AFP.

A lawyer representing his family announced after Wednesday's ruling they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to "have France convicted".

"We are outraged and shocked," said his sister, Assa Traore, who has been leading protests since his death.

"The Adama Traore case has brought the issue of police violence... to the forefront," she said, accusing the police and French justice system of racism.

Guillaume Tapie, a lawyer for the officers, called the ruling a "relief".

- 'Probably' not fatal -

In 2023, French investigating magistrates dropped the case against the three gendarmes, a ruling that was upheld on appeal in 2024.

The magistrates had been tasked with probing whether the three arresting officers used disproportionate force against Traore during a police operation targeting his brother, Bagui.

According to the magistrates, Traore's death was caused by heatstroke that "probably" would not have been fatal without the officers' intervention -- though it concluded their actions were within legal bounds.

However, his family has accused the gendarmes of failing to help the young man, who was found by rescue services unconscious and handcuffed behind his back.

In their appeal, Traore's family criticised the justice system for not carrying out a reconstitution of events as part of the investigation.

But prosecutors requested that the appeal be dismissed.

- Internal investigations -

Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France, as most are dealt with internally.

In January, several thousand people protested in Paris over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, El Hacen Diarra, 35, who died after passing out at a police station following his violent arrest.

Paris police launched an internal investigation after video filmed by neighbours, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.

In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries on a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017.

Prosecutors have also called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.

A court is to rule in March whether the officer will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.

Europe's top rights court in June ruled against France over its police discriminating against a young man during identity checks, in the first such verdict against the country over alleged racial profiling.

B.Johnson--SFF