In February 16 around 8 p.m., Jérémy Cohen, a young man being followed for psychological disorders, was hit by a tram in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). Rescued in cardio-respiratory arrest with a vital prognosis, he died the same evening in hospital. The Bobigny prosecution then opened an investigation for manslaughter. The central police station of the city, prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis, was responsible for the investigation during which witnesses reported an altercation just before the death of Jérémy Cohen. According to a police source, a video, in support of these testimonies, was given to the police on March 10.
Alerted, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office then opened a second investigation for intentional violence in a meeting. On March 29, an investigating judge was appointed to shed light on the circumstances of this attack. The two investigations were joined at that time. From now on, an investigating magistrate links the two aspects of the case now open for intentional violence in a meeting that resulted in death without intention to give it. It is now the judicial police who are in charge of the investigations.
No qualification of anti-Semitism at this stage
As of March 29, the aggravating circumstance of anti-Semitism had not been retained. The ongoing investigation may evolve and the heads of the opening of the judicial information may be requalified, as is the case in all legal proceedings.
“The police and justice are already seized. The victim’s family is not abandoned,” said a senior official from the prefecture of Bobigny. The Bobigny prosecution, for its part, has announced that it has received the family’s lawyers.
Social networks, on which the video showing part of the drama circulates, ignited after the testimony of the victim’s family broadcast on Sunday by community radio stations. The case has been taken up by presidential candidates who question the possibly anti-Semitic nature of the facts. The far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, given in the second round against Emmanuel Macron, wondered in a tweet about “the silence on this affair”, wondering about what “could be an anti-Semitic murder”. His rival Éric Zemmour spoke about it in four tweets. “Did he die to escape scum? Did he die because he was a Jew? Why is this case hushed up? he asked.
“All light must be shed on the circumstances of Jérémy Cohen’s death, his attack before he was hit by a tram in Bobigny,” tweeted environmental candidate Yannick Jadot. According to the police, “the presence of a yarmulke is not mentioned in our investigations, nor in the testimonies collected, nor on the video images already viewed”.