March 16 (GIN)—Two teenagers of North African descent, running from police, were electrocuted in a power substation 10 years ago. The officers will finally stand trial this week
It has been called the most important police trial in a decade, one that could expose the inequalities that plague France’s mostly segregated apartment complexes. The deaths of Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, released deeply felt anger at a system widely perceived as unjust.
“I think about it every day, since the accident,” said Adel Benna, 39, the brother of Zyed. “We have stopped living. The wounds run so deep, they never healed.”
The incident took place Oct. 27, 2005. Zyed and Bouna had been playing soccer and were walking home for the evening Ramadan meal when a police van, which had been called to a local building site, crossed their path. What happened next is in dispute. Police claimed the boys ran; others claimed they were chased. The two boys and a friend hid in an electric substation and received tens of thousands of volts of electricity. The friend, Muhittin Altun, 17, survived with severe burns.
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