A French court has acquitted a police officer who shot an armed criminal in the back, judging that he acted in legitimate self-defence, reports Radio France Internationale.
The victim's family and their supporters reacted angrily to the verdict but police officers who want looser controls on their right to use their weapons welcomed it.
Shouts of "The law acquits, the police murders!" and "No justice, no peace!" greeted the court's decision and security officers cleared the court in Bobigny, a town outside Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis département (county).
But the large number of off-duty police officers who had turned out to support their colleague, Damien Saboundjian, were pleased with the result and his lawyer, Daniel Merchat, declared himself "very happy" with the judgement.
The public prosecutor had asked for a suspended five-year sentence and a ban on Saboundjian practising his profession, accusing him of manslaughter.
Saboundjian shot Amine Bentounsi in the back after a tip-off that a known armed robber had been spotted outside a bar in Noisy-le-Sec in Seine-Saint-Denis in April 2012.
He claimed that he was acting in self-defence because Bentounsi had drawn a gun on him.
The Bentounsi family's lawyer, Michel Konitz, pointed to apparent inconsistencies in the accounts of Saboundjian and his colleagues, who, when challenged with the fact that the victim had been shot in the back, claimed he had turned when Saboundjian fired, although they had made no mention of him doing so in their initial statements.
Other witnesses said that Saboundjian fired wildly, at one point aiming at a car and hitting another one.
"They can carry on shooting us," commented Bentounsi's sister Amal, who set up a campaign against alleged police violence after her brother's death. "Police impunity continues. France is not prepared to find the police guilty even when they have killed. Justice has shot itself in the foot."