Killing of Nahel Merzouk: ruling on the appeal by the officer involved postponed to 5 March
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It will be at least another three months before the judges decide whether police officer Florian M. should stand trial for murder.
The Versailles Court of Appeal will deliver its ruling on 5 March 2025 on the appeal lodged by Florian M., the officer involved in the killing of Nahel Merzouk in Nanterre in June 2023. The officer is challenging the order by which the investigating judges, last June, sent him to stand trial for “murder” before an assize court (cour d’assises), as Nanterre prosecutors had requested.
The officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Liénard, is arguing for the case to be dismissed (non-lieu), maintaining that the shot was “legitimate” and lawful. Contacted by AFP, the prosecutor general’s office did not disclose what it had asked for at the hearing.
Two and a half years after the tragedy, Florian M. has returned to duty with the National Police, even though the IGPN, the police’s internal affairs body, had recommended he face a disciplinary board.
On 27 June 2024, drawing on witness and CCTV footage as well as the case file, Index published a reconstruction of the circumstances that led to Nahel’s death.