The scene lasted only a few seconds. On Monday, shortly after 10 p.m., a soldier from Operation Sentinelle, on patrol at the Gare de l’Est in Paris, was stabbed in the back, in the shoulder blades. Quickly arrested, the suspect was initially placed in police custody, before this was finally lifted on Tuesday around 8:30 a.m., due to his transfer to the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police headquarters. A decision that does not prevent the investigations from continuing. The investigation was reclassified in the morning as “attempted murder”, implying that the act was premeditated. According to a police source, he was filmed by one of the station’s cameras following the soldiers for “a few moments” before committing his act.
But as investigators look into the reasons for his actions, the suspect’s past resurfaces. Christian Ingondo, 40, is far from being unknown to the law. In January 2018, he stabbed Andy Brigitte, a 22-year-old man, to death at the Châtelet-les-Halles RER station. A gratuitous act – he accused her of having jostled him at 6 p.m., rush hour – for which he was declared criminally irresponsible. “We didn’t know he had gone out,” confided to 20 Minutes one of the family’s lawyers, Me Frédérique Pons. For Andy’s family, the events of yesterday evening are very traumatic and reopen a wound that has not healed.
Two colleges of experts had concluded that he was not responsible.
First, a reminder: in France, we do not judge the insane. It is even one of the keystones of our judicial system. As early as 1810, the Penal Code specified that there is “neither crime nor misdemeanor when the defendant was in a state of insanity at the time of the action.” In short, you have to be lucid at the time of the facts. Until 2008, when a person was considered irresponsible, the procedure ended with a dismissal order. Now, a hearing is held before the investigating chamber, with the possibility of appealing. “Before, victims received a simple letter to inform them of this decision. Now, they are heard during a hearing, the court can confirm that the acts committed are attributable to a person,” specifies Cédric Logelin, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice. So without them being able to be convicted.
On June 5, 2020, Christian Ingondo “appeared” before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal – this is not a trial, strictly speaking. “At the time, he was hospitalized and probably on medication, it was mainly the psychiatrists who spoke,” recalls Me Frédérique Pons.
The two panels of experts who met him during the investigation came to the same conclusion: at the time of the events, his discernment was abolished. A psychiatric assessment pointed to a “probable progressive schizophrenic illness”. “It was these assessments that made it possible to decode deeply incomprehensible facts”, the council continued. A month later, the investigating chamber officially declared him irresponsible.
Criminal irresponsibility, a very rare decision
This type of decision is, however, extremely rare. According to figures from the Ministry of Justice, in 2021, out of approximately two million procedures, 267 ended in this way, 73 of which concerned crimes. Above all, this does not mean that people declared criminally irresponsible are left free to do what they want. The investigating chamber can decide to take security measures: a ban on possessing a weapon, on coming into contact with certain individuals, on going to certain places. Compulsory hospitalization measures can also be issued. In 2021, this was the case in 166 of the 267 cases.
Compulsory hospitalization in the event of a declaration of irresponsibility is not written in black and white in the code of criminal procedure: “it is a medical decision, we cannot make it automatic”, specifies Cédric Logelin. And he adds: “But in fact, it is the case. I have never heard of a criminal case in which compulsory hospitalization was not pronounced.” This was notably the case for Christian Ingondo: the court declared his compulsory hospitalization, accompanied by security measures, in particular the prohibition on carrying a weapon.
No automatic renewal of criminal irresponsibility
Why then, four years after being declared criminally irresponsible, was the man outside, and what’s more in possession of a weapon? How long had he been out, and with what monitoring? These questions are at the heart of the investigation. Because a compulsory hospitalization is not lifted in a hurry, quite the contrary. According to the Public Health Code, two psychiatrists as well as a panel of experts, composed of psychiatrists following the patient but also external, must establish that he is neither dangerous to himself nor to others. A decision then validated by a judge of liberty and detention.
“It is not because he was found criminally irresponsible the first time that he will automatically be so this time, since it is a question of establishing the abolition of discernment at a given moment,” specifies the spokesperson for the ministry.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
