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Rabat – Lawyer Fabio Anselmo, who represents the family of Moroccan national Abderrahim Fakir, said a newly released video shows blood beneath the back of the slain Moroccan man’s head following the fatal police intervention in Bologna.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Fakir’s lawyer, who said streams of blood marked Fakir’s face.
“Before he was slammed to the ground, Fakir’s face and head were intact,” Anselmo said.
He added that he could not interpret the presence of blood because he does not make forensic medical reconstructions.
Fakir’s case dates back to July 19, when two police officers violently held him face down on the ground, kneeling on him and pinning him. The violent handling caused Fakir’s suffocation, but an investigation is ongoing to determine the exact cause of death.
Six individuals, including four paramedics, who stood still without intervening during the police brutality against Fakir are also under investigation.
In response to Fakir’s lawyer’s statements about the blood, Gabriele Bordoni, the lawyer representing the two police officers, claimed Fakir “injured the back of his head while dragging himself on the ground.”
The statement, however, contradicts the documented scenes from the video of Fakir’s arrest, as he was pinned face down on the ground.
ANSA reported that a newly surfaced video, recorded from the window of an apartment that captured Fakir’s killing, shows the moment when a forensic police officer approaches the body, which is still covered with a sheet, and uncovers it.
“A pool of blood is clearly visible beneath the back of Fakir’s head, appearing to originate from the skull,” ANSA reported.
The footage, according to the news agency, sparked a heated exchange between Fakir’s legal team and the lawyers representing the officers.
“How did all that blood end up in his lungs? He inhaled it because he was beaten. It is not external blood. What does cocaine have to do with this? Cocaine does not cause this,” Anselmo said.
While some officials from Italy’s government have defended the police officers, former Bologna Tribunal President Francesco Maria Caruso believes that both police protocols and rulings of the European Court of Human Rights may have been violated.
“Fakir’s death appears to have resulted from prolonged compression of the victim’s face and chest by two officers who held him on the ground, ignoring his pleas for help, with the assistance of a third civilian. This is an action prohibited by police protocols,” ANSA quoted Caruso as saying.
