The remanding in custody of a French policeman in the city of Marseille has sparked a new controversy, weeks after violent riots, with the left slamming a call from police chiefs for the officer to be freed, reports RFI.
France was rocked by over a week of riots that began last month over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk by a policeman during a traffic check outside Paris. The officer has been charged and jailed awaiting trial.
In the incident in Marseille, a man named as Hedi, 21, says he was beaten by four or five men he identified as police during unrest in the city earlier this month.
He says he was also hit in the head by a blast ball fired by police. He underwent surgery and has now returned home but risks losing the sight in one eye, his lawyer said.
Four police were charged* last week over the incident, one of whom was remanded in custody ahead of trial.
"Knowing that he is in prison is stopping me from sleeping," said France's national police chief Frédéric Veaux in an interview with the Le Parisien newspaper published on Monday.
Read more of this report from RFI.
*Editor's note: Under a change to the French legal system introduced in 1993, a magistrate can decide ia suspect should be 'placed under investigation' (mis en examen), which is a status one step short of being charged (inculpé), if there is 'serious or concordant' evidence that they committed a crime. Some English-language media describe this status, peculiar to French criminal law, as that of being charged. In fact, it is only at the end of an investigation that a decision can be made to bring charges, in which case the accused is automatically sent for trial.