A French appeals court has ruled that police carried out unjustified identity checks on five men from ethnic minorities, ordering the government to pay them damages in an unprecedented ruling that activists hope will help reduce widespread discrimination, reports The Guardian.
The collective case was the first of its kind in France, where anti-racism groups say non-white people are unfairly targeted by police. Gratuitous ID checks have long been cited as a prime reason for troubled relations between police and residents of poor suburbs.
Thirteen men, all of black or Arab origin, originally filed suit in the case. None of the 13 men had a police record, but each said he was a victim of multiple, humiliating ID checks, widely known as “stop and frisk”, and considered by police as an important crime-fighting tactic.
A lower court ruled in 2013 that police did not overstep legal boundaries with the ID checks. The Paris appeals court overturned part of that ruling, saying on Wednesday the checks against the five men were illegal, and ordered the state to pay €1,500 (£1,065) to each.
Lawyers say they have not yet decided whether to appeal against the other eight cases.
While the sum of damages is small, the significance of the ruling could be wide-reaching. Lawyer Slim Ben Achour said that with this precedent similar suits would be filed across France.