Interior minister says he does not understand officers’ version of events
There are growing calls for justice from the families of two alleged victims of police violence in France including a 14-year-old Roma boy left with severe facial injuries after his arrest.
Christophe Castaner, the French interior minister, has said the case of Gabriel Djordjevic, who sustained a fracture to his eye socket and four broken teeth after he claimed he was kicked by a police officer, was “troubling”.
Castaner said he did not understand the police explanation for the boy’s injuries, which was that he had fallen.
“It’s not normal that a 14-year-old boy, or anyone else, be injured during an arrest. There are two explanations: that of the young man and that of the police officers and they are totally contradictory. It’s not for me to decide which is right,” Castaner told BFMTV. He said he had referred the case to internal police investigators.