Death of Zineb Redouane: counter-expertise of the tear gas grenade firing

Using previously unpublished documents and a 3D model of the events, Forensic Architecture and Disclose have reconstructed the precise circumstances of the incident that caused the death of Zineb Redouane on 1 December 2018. Our counter-expertise formally contradicts the conclusions of the official expert report.

At the time this investigation was published, INDEX was still being incubated within the Forensic Architecture research agency. INDEX is therefore not the direct author of this investigation, which is signed by Forensic Architecture and Disclose.

On 1 December 2018, on the sidelines of a “yellow vests” demonstration in Marseille, 80-year-old Zineb Redouane was hit in the face by a tear gas grenade fired from a Cougar launcher as she stood at the window of her fourth-floor flat. She died in hospital the following day.

In May 2020, a new element was added to the ongoing judicial investigation: the report of a ballistics expert, designed to establish whether the police officer who fired the shot, a member of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), had acted in accordance with the law. The report exonerated the officer, concluding: “The weapon was used in accordance with the recommendations and procedures in force in the national police”.

Using elements of this report and a detailed 3D model of the scene, Forensic Architecture and Disclose carried out a counter-expertise, reconstructing the precise sequence of events that led to Zineb Redouane’s death.

According to our investigation, the police officer who fired the shot and his supervisor remain clearly responsible for Zineb Redouane’s death.