The investigation into the disappearance at sea, at the beginning of August, off the coast of South Africa, of Rugby player Medhi Narjissi, member of the French under-18 team, was reclassified as manslaughter, announced Wednesday 16 October the Agen public prosecutor’s office.
The judicial investigation, carried out until now for worrying disappearance, will now have to “establish whether one or more blunders, one or more imprudences, one or more inattentions, one or more negligences, one or more breaches of an obligation of safety or prudence” could have been committed, said the prosecutor, Olivier Naboulet, in a press release.
Medhi Narjissi, 17 years old, was swept away on August 7 on a beach known to be dangerous near the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, where he was present for an international tournament with the French U18 team. The Agen prosecutor’s office was seized at the end of August by the player’s family.
Towards a trial in the criminal court
Me Édouard Martial, lawyer for the Narjissi family, welcomed the passage “at a higher stage” in the investigations. This judicial information, “it is the accelerator of the responsibilities procedure”he declared.
“This means that responsibilities can be released with the consequences that we know, that is to say a possible appearance before a criminal court”he argued. “The investigating judge wants to have explanations, he wants to know why that day we went there, who made the decision, while the beach of Dias Beach, everyone knows, is renowned as one most dangerous”he added.
The supervision called into question by the FFR
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) for its part questioned, in an internal investigation report, the management of the U18s present during the gathering.
“The decision to organize a recovery session in the water on Dias Beach was taken without considering the dangerousness of the site”she notably estimated. An administrative investigation is also underway, carried out by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research, which must report its conclusions “before the end of November”.
Until then, the sports technical advisors of the U18 team have “been suspended as a precautionary measure” by the Ministry of Sports at the request of the FFR. The manager of the U18s has filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation, his lawyer believing that the FFR tried to “to pillory” to make him bear the responsibility for the disappearance of the young international.
