Aulnay-sous-Bois, France - "He still excretes from a hole in his stomach into a bag," says Eleanor, as she sits in her living room
in a tower block a few kilometres from where Theo, the youngest of eight siblings, was beaten by police and raped on Monday, February 2, in daylight.
Police say the "incident"- they do not describe it as rape - was an accident, that Theo's trousers "slipped down on their own".
"Theo is not like he was before," Eleanor continues. "Even now, he sleeps very late and wakes up really early. He doesn't really sleep, in fact. I'm his big sister. When I look at him, I can see he's a bit sad. He still jokes around but sometimes there is an absence. His face turns dark."
On the fateful day, officers stopped Theo - a 22-year-old youth worker and talented football player with no criminal record - as part of a "controle", or stop-and-frisk operation.
READ MORE: 'France sees itself as a white country'
Stop-and-searches are frequent in the "banlieues". They are sometimes carried out more than once a day, often with aggression, and usually target non-white citizens and immigrants, according to several residents Al Jazeera spoke to in Aulnay-sous-Bois and other impoverished suburbs.
"Some policemen consider us like rats, we don't have rights. Their attitude is 'I can beat you and speak to you however I wish. I am the boss, you are the shit.' Animals have more respect," says Eleanor, as she reflects on a stop-and-search 10 days earlier, where tear gas canisters were unleashed on a group of black and Arab boys in the estate.
Official data to determine whether or not racial profiling is systemic does not exist because it is against the law in France, where the concept of "colour-blindness" reigns, to collect information about ethnicity.
'I couldn't understand how it had come to this'
Theo says officers shouted racist insults at him, calling him "negro" and "bitch", inserted a baton into his anus violently and beat him, focusing on his private parts until he was no longer able to sit up. They sprayed an entire can of tear gas on him, he says.
Grainy video footage filmed by bystanders of the end of the episode shows officers propping up Theo, who is handcuffed, limping and wearing only one trainer having lost the other in the attack, and escorting him to a police car.
While in the back seat, Theo says, officers spat in his face, filmed the abuse on mobile phones, and posted it to SnapChat.
Covered in blood, he was hospitalised and needed major emergency surgery.
An X-ray, Eleanor says, shows the baton was inserted at least 10 centimetres; Theo's large intestine was severely damaged.
A doctor declared him unfit for work for at least 60 days
Police interrogated Theo for several hours from his hospital bed without the presence of a lawyer, and prevented family from visiting while he was still officially under arrest.
The practice of stop and search is essentially targeted on these Arab and black youths by the officers working in poor neighbourhoods of the banlieues.
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"When I got to the hospital, my brothers called me and said, 'Listen, the charge is rape.' I couldn't believe it. They said they put a baton inside him. The connection between stop-and-search and baton rape, I couldn't understand how it had come to this. I walked up and down the ward for three minutes alone, crying. My father was hiding in a corner. Another brother said, 'Please stop crying, I can't stand it.'
"When I saw Theo, I started crying again and apologised, but he was strong. I said, 'You have the right to cry, don't try and be strong for us.' When another brother came in, he cried. Then Theo shed some tears. He's our youngest brother. There we were, all in one room, comforting each other. About 15 of us, brothers, sisters and cousins."
The four officers involved, three of whom are charged with assault, have been suspended. All deny the allegations against them.
A magistrate has charged one of the officers with rape and is still investigating the case.
'A common experience'
"The conditions of [Theo's] arrest reflect a common experience for young men of working-class background belonging to ethno-racial minorities," says Didier Fassin, a professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the author of Enforcing Order: Ethnography of Urban Policing.
"The practice of stop and search, often illegal and acknowledged as such by officers' superiors, is essentially targeted on these Arab and black youths by the officers working in poor neighbourhoods of the banlieues."
"Affaire Theo", as it is known in France, set off days of protests, some peaceful, others violent as anger swelled, despite Theo calling for calm from his hospital bed, flanked by Francois Hollande, the then president.
"Theo reacted with dignity and responsibility," Hollande tweeted at the time, adding "Justice will be served."
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