A clerk of the judicial court of Argentan (Orne) committed suicide Thursday morning inside the establishment, the court announced on Friday in a press release.
This 62-year-old official “voluntarily rushed into the void from the railing of the staircase to the first floor” of the court, according to the statement. This is what the internal surveillance cameras revealed, according to the same source.
His lifeless body was discovered Thursday around 8:05 am by a magistrate and a registry officer at the foot of the stairs to the ground floor, according to the court.
The clerk “who had been practicing for many years and was much appreciated by all” died at 10:10 pm in the hospital where she had been transferred with a vital prognosis, despite the first aid provided, according to the court.
The director of judicial services is announced at the Argentan court on Friday.
Events all over France
Asked by AFP, the prosecutor of the Republic of Argentan Florence Sroda clarified that the official had “left nothing” to explain her decision.
“We will not communicate more to devote ourselves to the accompaniment of all the agents of the court in this terrible mourning”, added the magistrate.
An investigation into the causes of death is opened by the prosecution and entrusted to the Argentan police station.
When asked whether her work could be the source of the clerk’s distress, the prosecution did not respond.
Denouncing their “suffering” at work and their “despair”, magistrates and clerks gathered on December 15 all over France alongside lawyers to demand “dignified” means for justice, while unease grows within the courts.
Any reproduction prohibited