Europe rights court rules France violated right to life for death of protester – JURIST

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled Thursday that France had violated the right to life substantively, but not procedurally, for the death of a protester in the case of Fraisse and Others v. France.

Lawyers for Fraisse’s family brought the case before the ECtHR. In the ruling, the court unanimously found that the substantive aspect of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life had been violated. While the court did not rule on individual responsibility in the case, it found “the legal and administrative framework applicable at the time and the shortcomings in supervision of the preparation and conduct of the impugned operations” were deficient.

The court concluded that the “requisite level of protection in the event of the use of potentially lethal force had not been guaranteed.” Because the ECtHR was satisfied with the following investigation and changes made to remedy any shortcomings in the procedural process, it found no violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2. The ECtHR held France was to pay over 50,000 euros to the plaintiffs.

The case concerned 21-year-old student Rémi Fraisse, who died as a result of an explosion from a concussion grenade launched by a French police officer during protests over the construction of a dam.

In October 2014, Fraisse was participating in a demonstration against the Sivens Dam project when fighting broke out between police and protesters. One officer launched a concussion grenade at protestors, striking and killing Fraisse. In the aftermath of his death, the dam project was canceled and rights organizations requested the government for information on ongoing criminal investigations. In 2021, the French Court of Cassation had dismissed all appeals and decided not to prosecute the officer.