The Mons public prosecutor’s office on Monday requested the acquittal of four policewomen on trial for failing to assist a young Frenchman who died during the Dour festival in July 2016.
The 26-year-old man, who had taken LSD, had been taken to a drunk tank for disrupting public order, according to the public prosecutor’s office. He died a few hours later in hospital.
At the time of the proceedings, the public prosecutor had asked for the case to be dismissed. However, the indictment division decided to send the police officers back to court, and the Court of Cassation upheld this decision.
In court on Monday, the representative of the public prosecutor asked for the policewomen’s acquittal. “I do not think the case file establishes that there was a deliberate refusal to render assistance,” he said.
The civil parties’ lawyer argued, on the contrary, that the policewomen committed an offence by not assisting a young man who was banging his head against the cell walls, breathing badly and trembling. He accused the police officers of lying during the hearing and of disagreeing on key points of the case.
The lawyer felt the police should have called a doctor, given the serious danger faced by the victim.
The young man who had sold LSD to the victim was also on trial for peddling narcotics whose consumption led to death. He denied that there was a causal link between the death and the consumption of the LSD, as there were no traces of it in the man’s blood. His attorney pleaded for leniency.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office considered that prevention of sale had been established and that the causal link with the death was certain. The Deputy Public Prosecutor confirmed that the cause of death was a generalised malfunction following the consumption of narcotics.
A prison sentence of three to four years was sought against the supplier, as a person who acted for profit.
Lawyers for the four policewomen pleaded for their acquittal, arguing that they had committed no wrongdoing in locking up the young Frenchman.
During the trial, the victim’s father and a defence lawyer also pointed a finger at the Dour Festival, which was compared to a drugs supermarket.
However, the festival has not been charged in connection with this case.
