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French police commissioner charged over death during Fête de la musique

French prosecutors have charged a police commissioner with involuntary manslaughter following the death of a man killed when officers tried to shut down a rave concert in the city of Nantes two years ago.

French police commissioner charged over death during Fête de la musique
Supporters pay tribute to Steve Canico during a rally in June marking the second anniversary of his death. Photo: Loic Venance | AFP

The body of Steve Maia Canico, 24, was found in the Loire river a month after the controversial police raid in the early hours of June 22th, 2019, following the country’s annual Fête de la Musique celebrations.

An analysis of Canico’s mobile phone determined that he fell into the river during clashes that saw more than a dozen concertgoers go into the water, prompting accusations that officers used excessive force.

Several eyewitnesses said they had been blinded by tear gas during the raid as baton-wielding officers moved in to disperse crowds.

Canico’s family and friends have long demanded that officials be held accountable for his death, which came as police were facing criticism over heavy-handed tactics used against “yellow vest” protesters.

The police commissioner in charge of the intervention, Gregoire Chassaing, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to the prosecutor’s office in Rennes, where the case was transferred.

“He contests the basis and the terms of his indictment but does not wish to make any statement while the inquiry is ongoing,” his lawyer Louis Cailliez told AFP.

Another commissioner, Thierry Palermo, who was regional director of public security at the time, was named an “assisted witness” after questioning, meaning he remains under investigation but there is currently not enough evidence for charges to be filed.

Six other people will be questioned in the coming weeks by the judge leading the investigation, including the mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, and the region’s former prefect, prosecutors said.

Last month around 1,000 people demonstrated in Nantes to mark the second anniversary of Canico’s death. 

“This is a great relief for the family and a feeling of justice that they have needed for the past two years,” said Cecile de Oliveira, a lawyer for the family.

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CRIME

France blocks fake Ukraine war recruitment website

French authorities have uncovered a website for a fake recruitment drive purportedly seeking French volunteers to fight for Ukraine against the Russian invasion, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

France blocks fake Ukraine war recruitment website

The site has now been taken down by French services, a government source, who asked not to be named, told AFP without elaborating.

The site had said that 200,000 French people were invited to “enlist in Ukraine”, with immigrants given priority.

A link to the site – that resembled the French army’s genuine recruitment portal – had been posted on X, formerly Twitter, the French defence ministry said.

“The site is a fake government site,” the ministry said, also on X, “and has been reposted by malevolent accounts as part of a disinformation campaign”.

The ministry did not say who they thought might be responsible. But a source close to the government told AFP initial evidence pointed to communications operations linked to Russian mercenary group Wagner.

“The accounts used and the technical data behind them, these are the people we know”, the source said.

“These people are still there and remain very focused on Ukraine. The subject of the French army is something that annoys them a lot.”

Separately, a government official speaking on condition of anonymity said the site bore “the hallmarks of a Russian or pro-Russian effort as part of a disinformation campaign claiming that the French army is preparing to send troops to Ukraine”.

French President Emmanuel Macron angered the Russian leadership last month by hardening his tone on the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In recent weeks he has refused to rule out sending ground troops and insisted that Europe has to do all that is necessary for a Russian defeat.

France has already accused Russia of waging a disinformation campaign against it.

The official told AFP that similar recent examples of disinformation posts included pictures of French army convoys wrongly presented as moving towards the Ukrainian border.

The fake website invited potential recruits to contact “unit commander Paul” for information about joining.

The defence ministry and government cyber units are investigating, ministry staff told AFP.

The French government has recently stepped up efforts to denounce and fight what it says are Russian disinformation and destabilisation campaigns aimed at undermining French public support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“Russia is asserting itself as the most aggressive player in the information field,” Marc-Antoine Brillant, the head of Viginum, an agency mandated to detect digital disinformation campaigns, said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro.

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