A legal insecurity: Article L. 435-1 and the death of Luis Bico

In 2017, Luis Bico was shot dead by the police following a refusal to obey. Seven years later, having exhausted legal remedies in France, his family has taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights to seek justice. INDEX revisits the Bico affair through a documentary investigation, in which the main culprit is an article of law.

On August 19, 2017, Luis Bico, a 48-year-old man with psychiatric disorders, was shot dead by police fire at his vehicle in Châlette-sur-Loing (Loiret, France). A few months earlier, a new legislation had passed which modified the conditions for the use of weapons by national police officers confronted with drivers who fail to obey a stop order. Under the terms of this law, the case against the police officers who shot at Bico’s vehicle was dismissed – a decision upheld on appeal. Seven years after Luis Bico’s death, his family is still seeking justice: in September 2024, they lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.

In this investigative documentary, INDEX looks back at the case of Luis Bico’s death, giving the floor to Lucie Simon, lawyer for Bico’s family, as well as to the witnesses who filmed the incident. Beyond the responsibility of the police officers who fired the fatal shots, the main culprit in this case is Article L.435-1 of the Code of interior security (Code de la sécurité intérieure), introduced by the law of February 28, 2017. Since it came into force, the number of people killed by police shooting at a vehicle has exploded in France. Luis Bico is among the first victims of this legal insecurity.

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Team