Suicide of Lucas: the lawyer of one of the children indicted formally contests the facts

Justice wants to be inflexible. After the death of Lucas, at the beginning of January, four minors were indicted for “school bullying leading to suicide”. These 13-year-olds are going to stand trial. “Following the opening of the preliminary investigation, four minors were taken into custody by the urban security of the Epinal police stationrevealed Frédéric Nahon, the public prosecutor of Épinal. During their hearings, the respondents, two 13-year-old girls and two boys, educated in the same establishment as Lucas, only admitted to having repeatedly made fun of their comrade. According to the magistrate, “The facts took place from September 2022 to the beginning of January 2023”. Two boys and two girls “were summoned to the children’s court of Épinal”.

Invited on the antenna of BFMTV this Saturday, January 28, the lawyer of one of the defendants affirmed that he “absolutely does not admit having harassed his comrade”. We “Alleges acts of harassment, he strongly denies having said or committed any harassment whatsoever against Lucas”explained Béatrice Founès, while adding that a “judge had been seized (…) to assess the situation and in particular to see if acts of harassment can be reproached” : “Like his comrades, he benefits from the presumption of innocence”. “The suicide of a young person is dramatic, it’s complex, it can be multifactorial, there may be other elements. We must let the police and the justice system work as calmly as possible”, added the lawyer of one of the minors soon to be tried.

Lucas suicide: his mother wants “justice to be done”

The public prosecutor of Épinal also announced the opening of a “incidental investigation against X for non-denunciation of ill-treatment of minors”. “The objective of this investigation is to confront the reality of the acts of harassment that Lucas allegedly suffered, their duration, the exact content of the remarks or behavior denounced, to also verify the various measures that had been taken [par son collège] and whether or not to establish a direct link with the death of Lucas”, added the magistrate. In their hearings, Lucas’ relatives denounced acts of harassment committed by students from Louis-Armand College in Golbey,because of his homosexuality, for several months. In the columns of Vosges-Matin, Lucas’ mother explained that she was waiting for “justice be done” and in particular that “the authors recognize their wrongs and above all that something is done so that they do not start again”.