Overview

• The Cour d’appel de Nancy overturned convictions of three anti-nuclear activists charged with riot during a 2017 demonstration near the Cigéo waste site.
• Judges concluded that the prosecution failed to prove gendarmes’ dispersal orders had been announced, heard, or seen by the defendants before classifying the gathering as a riot.
• The defendants endured an eight-year investigation marked by extensive surveillance measures, including IMSI-catchers typically reserved for organized-crime probes.
• An original Bar-le-Duc judicial inquiry lasting three years and four months led to indictments of ten people and successive trials on charges ranging from association to riot.
• Following the acquittal, activists announced plans for a new protest on September 20, 2025, pending any appeal to the Court of Cassation.