Both policemen were acquitted by courts in Lausanne and Nyon, but must now apper in front of a third court on charges of abusing their authority and causing injury, newspaper 24 Heures reports.

The events date back to New Year’s Eve in 2006. The 16-year-old was stopped by the police twice that night in Lausanne, when he insulted both officers.

He claims that the police retaliated by putting him in a van, before pepper-spraying him in the face and abandoning him in the woods at Sauvabelin, on the outskirts of the city.

The regional criminal court ordered the court in Yverdon to retry the case following a request from the Federal Court, which said the evidence needed to be reviewed.