A police officer in the canton of Vaud accused of abusing his authority is to be re-tried, following claims he was acquitted thanks to his colleagues committing perjury. The case had been dismissed, but will now be fully re-investigated.

The substance of the case dates back to New Year’s Eve, 2006. A 16-year-old Eritrean man was stopped on two separate occasions by police in Lausanne. He claims that on the second occasion, a patrol officer drenched him in pepper spray, and abandoned him near a forest. He says his attempts to lodge a complaint later that night were rejected. The case eventually went to court, and the policeman was acquitted, based on testimony by his colleagues. Some months later, however, a fellow officer who’d left the force accused those colleagues of lying under oath, to cover up police brutality. Those accusations are now being investigated, and the previous acquittal has been cancelled. The case will be now be brought before a higher court.