French prosecutors have opened an investigation into an online collection for a policeman who shot a teenager dead in a Paris suburb in late June sparking nationwide riots.
The initiative on GoFundMe.com, launched by far-right media commentator Jean Messiha, received pledges of more than €1.6m (£1.4m) before it was closed in early July.
The 38-year-old motorbike traffic officer who shot French-Algerian teenager Nahel M on 27 June has been detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter.
Nahel’s mother filed a legal complaint via her lawyer, alleging fraud, misuse of personal data and conspiracy by Messiha.
A legal inquiry by specialised financial crime investigators is under way, the Paris prosecutor told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
“We welcome the speed of the decision by the prosecutor,” Yassine Bouzrou, who is acting for the dead boy’s mother, told AFP.
Messiha was contacted for comment.
The shooting, at point-blank range, sparked the most intense urban violence in France since 2005 and rekindled complaints about heavy-handed policing and racism in deprived areas of the country.
Messiha said the fund, which was intended for the officer’s family, was “a cry from French people to demand order, a cry of love for their security forces”.
But news of the collection prompted outrage, with politicians on the left describing it as “indecent”.
Nahel’s grandmother Nadia said she was “heartbroken” by the support shown for the officer. “He took the life of my grandson. This man must pay, the same as everyone,” she told the BFM television channel on Sunday. “I have confidence in the justice system. I believe in justice.”
Clémence Guetté of the radical-left France Unbowed party said the fund was “indecent and an absolute horror”.
French law prohibits the “opening of or public announcement of subscriptions whose purpose is to compensate for fines, costs and damages awarded by judicial sentences in criminal and correctional matters”. The penalties include a six-month prison sentence or a €45,000.
The law was used in 2019 to close a fund in support of gilets jaunes protester Christophe Dettinger, a former boxer who was convicted of punching two police officers. The platform, Leetchi, deemed the fund contrary to public order after an internal investigation and the €146,000 in donations were returned to senders.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe told the French magazine Capital that the fund did not break any rules as the money would not go to fund the police officer’s legal fees or defence.
