Former French U18 Rugby Manager Questioned in Teen Player’s Disappearance Case

The former U18 manager was taken into custody on Tuesday after being questioned by officers from the organized and specialized crime division in Agen. The suspect was subsequently released, according to a police source, recalling that the prosecutor’s office had reclassified the judicial investigation as involuntary manslaughter in mid-October. According to Arnaud Dupin, Cambos’ lawyer, this custody measure is normal, as it "allows for the truth and explanations to be given." "It was important for this to be recorded in an official report," he stated.

The victim’s family is "very satisfied with the evolution of the procedure," says Edouard Martial, the lawyer for Medhi Narjissi’s parents, assured that the investigation "will continue to evolve." "We are moving towards indictments in the coming weeks." Medhi Narjissi has been missing since August 7, 2024, when he was swept away by the waves on a notoriously dangerous beach near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where the U18 team was having a recovery session, recalls Le Monde.

During a press conference held in late August, his father, former rugby player Jalil Narjissi, denounced a "catastrophic" supervision: "It was the physical trainer of the French team who made the decision to take them there. It’s incomprehensible." In an internal investigation report published in mid-September, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) also criticized the supervision of the U18s during this tour, noting that "the decision to organize a recovery session in the water on Diaz Beach was made without considering the dangerousness of the site."

As sanctions, the Ministry of Sports, at the request of the FFR, "suspended as a precautionary measure" the team’s technical sports advisors. "There were serious failures in this case, particularly on the part of the Federation," says Edouard Martial. Me Dupin, for his part, deplores that the FFR is seeking to hold his client Stéphane Cambos responsible for the disappearance of the young Stade Toulousain player. This is why he has filed a complaint against the body for slanderous denunciation.