Un crime à Abidjan

‘Africa stands at another moment in history than the rest of the world,‘ the Chief of Police of Abidjan in C_te d‘Ivoire states in the beginning of UN CRIME À ABIDJAN. ‘We respect human rights, but we have our own opinions about what is humane,‘ is his response to the question whether he has committed atrocities and torture. This commissioner Kouassi is the main character in a film from the series ENQUÊTES DE POLICE that director Mosco Boucault initiated for the French television network La Sept/Arte, and of which he directed some episodes, like LA FUSILLADE DE MOLE STREET, which is part of IDFA‘s Reflecting Images section. Kouassi gave Boucault and his team permission to film, from beginning to end, the police inquiry into the assassination of officer Toussaint Zoghouri, who was allegedly murdered by machete-carrying gangsters on 4 February 1995. By degrees, it becomes clear that Kouassi‘s observation should be considered a warning instead of an excuse; to Western standards, the investigation methods used by his police force could certainly be called brutal, cruel and unorthodox. The film offers a unique glance at the doings of the police force of C_te d‘Ivoire, where street violence is reflected by a regime that is at least as repressive.