Homicide at Morges station –
Strong protests against the dismissal of the case which exonerates the police
The Justice4Nzoy collective is calling for a rally on December 7, to demonstrate against the closure of the investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Published today at 6:03 p.m.
In the presence of Me Ludovic Tirelli, family lawyer, the independent commission responsible for shedding light on the death of Roger Nzoy Wilhelm presented the preliminary results of its own investigation a year ago.
Florian Cella/Archives
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The police officer who fatally injured Roger “Nzoy” Wilhelm on August 30, 2021 on a platform at Morges station used his firearm “in self-defense”. This conclusion of the Public Prosecutor’s Officewho closed the case, outrages the Justice4Nzoy collective. In a press release published Thursday morning, it calls for a rally on Saturday, December 7, at 3 p.m. on the Place du 14-Juin in Lausanne. “To express our anger against this scandalous decision.” Decision which will be appealed, said the family’s lawyer, Mr.e Ludovic Tirelli.
The independent commission responsible for shedding light on the death of Roger Nzoy Wilhelm has also broken its silence. In support of the victim’s loved ones, this collective made up of volunteer experts (lawyers, doctors, psychologist) carried out their own investigation into what happened that day.
In addition to the three shots fired by the police officer who felt threatened by the visibly disturbed man armed with a knife, the attitude of his three colleagues is also at the heart of the case. It is established that the officers waited more than six minutes and the arrival of a nurse before providing care to the victim, who was handcuffed on the ground and still alive. “The autopsy report notes that the injuries caused by the third shot were necessarily fatal in the very short term,” said the Prosecutor’s Office to justify its decision not to refer them to court for failure to render aid.
Revived wounds
The prosecutor poses as an arbiter while it is up to the judges to decide, in the case of allegations of homicide by state agents, estimates the independent commission: “What is at stake with this biased investigation and this classification order is nothing less than public confidence in the state’s monopoly on the use of force,” summarizes its coordinator. “We have been asking from the beginning for the recusal of the Vaud Public Prosecutor’s Office so that a magistrate from another canton can take over the case, as recommended in such cases by the European Court of Human Rights.”
The dismissal revives the wounds of the acquittal pronounced by the court against law enforcement in the Mike Ben Peter case. Classifying the death of Roger Nzoy “is a political choice which shows once again to all of society that the impunity of the Swiss racist system will remain intact whatever happens,” reacts the Justice4Nzoy collective.
The death of Lamin Fatty, a Gambian mistakenly arrested by the police and who died of an epileptic seizure in the Blécherette prison area in 2017, was also dismissed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Seized of an appeal, the Cantonal Court judged this summer that further investigations were necessary.
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