witnesses

Mediapart can reveal new evidence from witnesses that puts a different perspective on the death of botany student Rémi Fraisse during a protest against the building of a new dam at Sivens in south-west France in October 2014. Statements from several eye witnesses show that Rémi, 21, had his hands in the air and was calling on gendarmes to stop firing when he was struck and killed by an offensive grenade. Their accounts also cast some doubts over the version of events given by the authorities about the student's death. Mediapart's legal affairs correspondent Michel Deléan reports.

On December 20th, 20-year-old Bertrand Nzohabonayo was shot dead by police in Joué-lès-Tours, west-central France, after he reportedly attacked a police station wielding a knife with which he wounded three officers while shouting the phrase ‘god is great’ in Arabic “up until his last breath”, according to some media. The French interior minister hailed the “professionalism” and “level-headedness” of the officers involved, and an investigation into the events was immediately handed to anti-terrorist police. Burundian-born Nzohabonayo, a Muslim convert who had recently posted a photo of the flag of Islamic State on his Facebook page, has been widely presented as acting for the cause of Islamic extremism. But one week after his death, a quite different version of events has emerged. According to several witnesses, he was shot while using a knife to resist arrest outside the police station, where he was being brought for questioning over a fight involving one of the station's officers and two black youths. Yannick Sanchez reports.