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Death of a Traveller

      A Counter-Investigation

      Didier Fassin

      Translated by Rachel Gomme

      polity

      First published in French as Mort d’un voyageur: une contre-enquête © Seuil 2020

      First published in English in 2021 by Polity Press

      Copyright © Didier Fassin 2021

      The right of Didier Fassin to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      Polity Press

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      Polity Press

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      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4742-5

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Fassin, Didier, author.

      Title: Death of a traveller: a counter investigation / Didier Fassin; translated by Rachel Gomme.

      Other titles: Mort d’un voyageur. English

      Description: Medford : Polity Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “A leading anthropologist shows how the police and the justice system work against marginalized communities”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2020046192 (print) | LCCN 2020046193 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509547401 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509547418 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509547425 (epub) | ISBN 9781509548071 (pdf)

      Subjects: LCSH: Discrimination in criminal justice administration--France--Case studies. | Romanies--Crimes against. | Homicide--France--Case studies. | Police shootings--France--Case studies. | Romanies--France--Social conditions. | Minorities--Crimes against--France | Minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.--France.

      Classification: LCC HV9960.F8 F3713 2021 (print) | LCC HV9960.F8 (ebook) | DDC 364.152092--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046192 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046193

      The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

      Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

      For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Dedication

      For Angelo’s sister, for his parents, and for all those who fight for truth and justice on behalf of the ones injured or killed by the police

      The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.

      Djalâl al-Dîn Muhammad Rûmî

      The more affects we are able to put into words about a thing, the more eyes, various eyes we are able to use for the same thing, the more complete will be our ‘concept’ of the thing, our ‘objectivity’.

      Friedrich Nietzsche

Acknowledgments

      This project would not have been undertaken without the collaboration of Angelo’s family. I am profoundly grateful for the trust they placed in me throughout my work and for the integrity they showed, in spite of the pain this story still aroused in them more than two years after the tragedy. My thanks are also due to the other people involved in this case, particularly in the Justice and Truth Collective. I am equally indebted to the lawyers and magistrates who gave me the benefit of their insight and their skill as well as their view of the victim, the events that led to his death and the judicial procedure that followed, and in particular to the public prosecutor who generously granted