Rémi Fraisse (; August 31, 1993 in Toulouse – October 26, 2014 in Lisle-sur-Tarn) was a French botanist involved in

nature conservation Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values unde ...

. He was killed by the explosion of an OF-F1 stun grenade. The projectile was fired by an officer of the French police and his family are bringing charges against him. Fraisse died at the age of 21 during protests against the construction of the

Sivens Dam Sivens Dam (''Barrage de Sivens'') was a dam which was planned for construction across the Tescou, a tributary of the Tarn in the basin of the Garonne in Southern France, near to Toulouse. The construction site was 10 km north of Lisle- ...

Career

Fraisse had a degree in Nature Management and Protection, he volunteered as a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, and had a precarious employment situation. Music was another of Fraisse's interests; he played the guitar and the

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

, and reggae and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

were the music styles he enjoyed.

Death

The proposed

project created an ecologist and anti-developmental movement which occupied the wetlands affected, renamed it to " ZAD du Testet", and opposed the progress of the construction works. Early in the morning of October 26, 2014 there was fighting between the police and the protestors. According to his relatives, Fraisse felt outraged, and ran spontaneously towards a skirmish, when he realized how violent the National Gendarmerie was being against the demonstrators. He was struck by a stun grenade fired by the police and killed instantly. Some minutes later, his body was collected by the authorities.

Aftermath

After the death of Fraisse, the French government suffered a social and political crisis for over a month, with riots in Toulouse, Albi, Gaillac,

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, Paris, Saint-Denis,

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, Dijon, as well as other protests against police violence across the country. The ruling Socialist government was criticised by Green deputies for initially making no comment on the death. Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of Interior, denounced the Greens for blaming the police. The regional council quickly decided to halt construction on the dam. Thierry Carcenac, head of the council, said "What happened was terrible and should never happen again." In January 2015, Minister of Ecology Ségolène Royal announceed that the dam was cancelled. The father of Fraisse stated he would press murder charges against the policeman who fired the grenade which killed his son.

Murder charges

An internal police investigation in 2014 had cleared the officer, stating he had made the necessary warnings. In 2016, the officer was heard as a witness in the case but not charged. Judges decided in 2018 that the policeman did not fire the stun grenade aiming to kill Fraisse on purpose. They did not dispute that the policeman shot the grenade, but they did not see an intention to kill. The lawyer of the officer said the violence had been proportionate. The family of Fraisse immediately announced that they would appeal the decision. The appeal against this judgement was suspended whilst another legal challenge was made. The family questioned the constitutional arrangement in which police officers acting under civil command could be judged under military law (instead of criminal law) when maintaining public order. The Constitutional Council decided that this was indeed the case in January 2019.

References

External links

Mediapart dossier (in French) on Sivens and the death of Rémi Fraisse
1993 births 2014 deaths 21st-century French botanists Articles containing video clips Deaths by firearm in France French conservationists Scientists from Toulouse People shot dead by law enforcement officers in France fr:Rémi Fraisse {{France-botanist-stub