French policeman accused of violence during riots kept in custody

A French police officer will remain in custody as he awaits trial over allegations that he and three colleagues badly injured a 22-year-old man during riots in Marseille last month, a court in Aix-en-Provence ruled on Thursday.

Violent protests raged for days in several French cities after a 17-year-old of North African descent was shot dead by police in Paris on June 26 after failing to obey an order to stop his car.

His death and the subsequent unrest fuelled a debate about a lack of accountability for police misconduct.

National police chief Frederic Veaux said last week that "a police officer does not belong in prison, even if he did wrong or committed serious errors at work." His remarks were widely perceived as a challenge to the independence of the judiciary.

Thursday's ruling concerned an officer charged with causing severe injuries to a man named only as Hedi by shooting him with a rubber bullet on the night of July 1-2, in the margins of the riots.

Hedi has said his head is disfigured and his vision impaired after doctors operated on his skull. He has said he was also beaten by police.

The officer is to be kept in custody to prevent him communicating with the three colleagues involved in the case, the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor's office said.

Earlier in the investigation, the officer's incarceration prompted a go-slow protest by colleagues.

"A police officer is not an ordinary citizen (...) but if something goes wrong, we get treated like ordinary citizens," complained Yann Bastiere, a representative of the Unite-SGP police union.