Paris - The public prosecutor of Tunis has opened an investigation into the death of a young Tunisian who died while in the custody of French police, the web site of the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur reported Tuesday. A Tunisian judge has invited the father of 22-year-old Abdelhakim Ajiimi to testify and has sent an official notice to French authorities regarding Ajiimi's death on Friday in the south-eastern city of Grasse.
Ajiimi allegedly died shortly after being arrested for causing a public disturbance after a bank in Grasse refused to cash an unemployment cheque. Witnesses to the arrest have told French media that Ajiimi turned purple while being held in a stranglehold by the arresting officers.
In addition, his father told the daily Nice-Matin that the arrest was filmed by a witness and that the tape showed that his son was literally strangled before being tossed into the boot of a police car.
However, the chief of police of the Alpes-Maritime region said in a statement that Ajiimi had succumbed to "an illness" and that nothing suggested that the police had acted improperly.
An autopsy was to have been carried out on Ajiimi's body on Tuesday. In addition, the Inspector General's office of the French police has opened its own investigation into the affair.
