Over 700 Rioters Sent To Prison In France After Protests Over Killing Of 17-Year-Old Boy

More than 700 people have been sentenced to prison over riots in France late last month after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old boy from a French-Algerian background during a traffic stop west of Paris, in an incident filmed by a passerby.

 

The Country’s Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told RTL radio on Wednesday that It is essential to reestablish national order.

 

Dupond-Moretti told RTL radio. “It was extremely important to have a response that was firm and systematic

 

“It was essential that we reestablish national order.”

 

In total, 1,278 verdicts have been handed down, with over 95 percent of defendants convicted on a range of charges from vandalism to attacking police officers.

 

Six hundred people have already been jailed, the Local reports.

 

The most intense urban violence in France since 2005 began on June 27th after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old boy.

 

The riots were contained after four nights of serious clashes thanks to the deployment of around 45,000 security forces, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.

 

Dupond-Moretti had led calls for courts to hand down harsh sentences as a deterrent, with some staying open over the weekend of the clashes to handle a backlog of cases.

 

Many suspects faced immediate appearances and some defence lawyers have raised concerns about the fairness of the judicial process and the heavy use of custodial sentences.

 

The average age of the over 3,700 people arrested was just 17, with the minors appearing in separate children’s courts. The Interior Minister had previously stated that 90 percent of those arrested were French.

 

The number of people sentenced to prison exceeds the number in 2005 at the time of the last major riots when around 400 people were sent to jail