Gaps in French Briat death report

by Diet Simon

The French anti-nuclear movement Réseau Sortir du nucléaire charges that there
are serious gaps in the state attorney’s report on how a young activist was killed
in November by a nuclear waste train.

Twenty-two-year-old Sébastien Briat died on 7 November near Avricourt in Lorraine
when he tried to stop a train taking waste from a French plutonium plant for
storage in Germany, where it had originated.

He was one of a group of eight. Contrary to first reports, it is now indubitably clear that none of the group were chained to the track. Sébastien Briat was seized by the air turbulence of the train, running at 98 km/h, was pulled under the train and shortly afterwards died of his massive injuries.

Réseau Sortir du nucléaire alleges that the recently published report of the commission of inquiry tries to absolve the authorities, the French railways and the nuclear industry of its material and moral responsibility.

The group notes that while the report blames “lack of caution and a series of mistakes” mainly on the youthful demonstrator, it was obvious that those responsible for the transport bore at least a large part of the responsibility.

Réseau Sortir du nucléaire is looking into legal possibilities of forcing the clarification of open questions. It says actions will continue to increase pressure for abandoning atomic power production.

The police report said Briat and others had chained themselves to the track. The group strenuously deny this. http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/1...

In a statement, Sébastien’s friends wrote: “Four of us were lying next to the rails because we had placed two pipes under the rails. No one was lying between the rails so as to be able to get away fast in an emergency. We were not chained on and so had the possibility to quickly pull our arms out of the pipe.”

According to the state attorney, “those chained-on” had mistaken the actual travel time of the train and had relied on word from other activists that the train was coming “in 20 minutes”, whereas it was only seven minutes away.

Their two-way radios had not worked. The Castor convoy had travelled at the permitted maximum speed of 98 kilometres an hour, the state attorney said.
http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/1...