FRANCE: Police exonerated after the death of two teenagers in Clichy

Five and a half after the tragedy, the Court of Appeal of Paris gave a non-suit Wednesday in favor of two officers initially referred to a court investigation into the death of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois in the origin of the 2005 riots.

Both officers were dismissed in October by the judges in charge of the investigation before the criminal court for "failure to assist persons in danger" but the prosecutor of Bobigny had appealed that decision.

The Court of Appeal of Paris followed the submissions of the prosecutor general who believed that the two officers were not aware of the reality of danger.

On October 27, 2005, Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, died electrocuted in a power substation where they fled after a chase with police. A third teenager, Muhittin Altun, who survived.

Urban violence had started the night in Clichy-sous-Bois and had spread to all the French suburbs.The state of emergency had been imposed even on November 9.

"The issue has always been empty," said the lawyer for Mr. Daniel Merchat police after the decision in closed session by the Board of Education.

"After 5 years, the small voice of truth, justice eventually cover the decoys media uproar," said the lawyer.

The lawyer for the families of two young was in high contrast against this decision and announced an appeal.

"It is a justice of fear that was made this morning," responded Jean-Pierre Mignard on France Inter. But "we will go through," he said, accusing prosecutors of being "not independent" and "not impartial".

The police initially questioned had seen criticized for not having tried to assist the youth entered the peril of their lives in the transformer.

But for prosecutors, police officers were unaware that the three youths had entered the transformer.Well for one of the policemen who, in exchange radio, "announced that he saw two individuals in the process of stepping over a fence to move to the EDF website.

He also said in this exchange: "At the same time, if they fall on the EDF site, I would not give much of their skin."

Claude Dilain, Socialist Mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), regretted the decision of the appellate court.

"From day one, I called for an independent investigation and adversarial," he recalled elected to AFP.

"It will not happen and I regret it, even for police officers," he said."Their non-responsibility might have been more clearly demonstrated after the debate," he said.

Mohamed Mechmache, president of the collective associations AC-Fire in Clichy-sous-Bois has also expressed its disappointment. "We work so that young people believe in justice, but after a decision like that is hard for us," he said.

CINEMA: Egeria the auteur cinema of the 1970s, Marie-France Pisier died

Reuters - French actress Marie-France Pisier, muse of auteur cinema, died at the age of 66 in the night from Saturday to Sunday
Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer (Var), where she lived, it was learned from the gendarmerie.

Actress "intellectual" and committed, Marie-France Pisier was crowned twice the Cesar for Best Actress for "Cousin Cousine" (1976) Jean-Charles Tacchella and "Barocco" (1977), a work that Andre Techine made him one of its
favorite actress.

Marie-France Pisier, born May 10, 1944 in the former French Indochina, the cinema began in 1961 by Francois Truffaut, who enlisted for the sketch "Antoine and Colette" face
Jean-Pierre Léaud (Antoine Doinel) in the film "Love at Twenty."

Seventeen later, she embodied Colette in "Love on the Run," the last chapter of the adventures of Antoine Doinel she co-wrote with Truffaut.

Silhouette sophisticated distance any bourgeois tone of voice unparalleled, Marie-France Pisier was at the heart of the universe of Alain Robbe-Grillet, Luis Bunuel and Jacques Rivette.

Film copyright in popular cinema

But it is also found in popular hits, like "Ace of Aces" with Jean-Paul Belmondo (1982) or "The Price of danger" (1983) where she played a producer of reality TV before hour.

Yves Boisset, the director of "Price of risk", on Sunday welcomed an actress "a great class and (of) a great intelligence."

More rare in cinema in the 90s, she toured with young filmmakers in recent years. She made her last screen appearance in "The rest of the ham?" (2010), a comedy by Anne Depetrini.Theater actress, she was also a writer, screenwriter and director.

It was published in 1984 "Governor's Ball," a novel inspired by her childhood, she adapted for film in 1990 with actress Kristin Scott-Thomas in the lead role.

"C" was a woman of solar energy absolutely, who was curious about everything, who never rests on its laurels as an actress, "said Kristin Scott-Thomas on ITélé.

A U.S. customs official gunned down in Monterrey

AFP - A member of the U.S. Agency Customs and immigration (ICE) was gunned down in Mexico Tuesday "in the exercise of his duties" by "unknown assailants" and a second is in a state serious, it was learned from official sources and Mexican American.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said she was "deeply saddened by the news" of the assault by bullets with the two victims were American agents, one of whom subsequently died from his injuries .

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs has "condemned" this act of violence in which "an agency official U.S. Customs and immigraton (ICE) was killed and another injured.

They "have been targeted in the exercise of their functions by unknown assailants while they were driving between Mexico City and Monterrey," Napolitano said, adding that the injured officer "was shot in the arm and leg and is in stable condition. "

"The U.S. agency responsible for law enforcement are working closely with Mexican authorities who are investigating the shooting, to ensure that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime are caught as quickly as possible," adds it.

The shooting occurred in a context of increasing violence in recent days in Mexico, ravaged by war between drug cartels for control of territory and by repression of drug trafficking conducted by the army for four years.

More than 34,600 people died in violence related to drugs since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police to fight cartels.

"Let me be very clear: an act of violence against personnel from ICE, or anyone working for the Department of Homeland Security, is an attack against all those who serve our country and put their lives at risk to our security "Napolitano wrote.

It was unclear Tuesday night whether the two officers had been specifically targeted because they worked for the U.S. government.