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A year later, the investigation to establish the circumstances of the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a police officer’s gunshot, continues in Nanterre, in a case that has become a symbol of the fight against police violence.
One year after the death of Nahel Merzouk, at age 17, on June 27, 2023 in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), the judicial investigation is accumulating testimonies, use of images and expert opinions. At the end, the two investigating judges will have to decide a crucial question: did Florian M., the police officer who killed the teenager with a shot in the heart, indicted for murder, have a legal reason to start the fire ? Since the events, the agent has been rehashing more or less the same story, completely rejecting the slightest intention to kill. All he would have done was defend himself and protect others. The escape of Nahel Merzouk, behind the wheel of the large yellow rental car, endangered the people who were on his route, he maintains. But his version clashes with several parts of the procedure.
The police officer assured the investigating judge who questioned him in November that at the fatal moment, positioned between the vehicle and a wall of the road, he felt “threat”, like his colleague, Julien L., whom he sought to “protect”. On the videos, we see Florian M., 38 years old at the time of the events, left elbow on the hood, sticking
