A year after the death of the 16-year-old young man in Drôme, family and victims are arming themselves with patience while justice is still looking for who, among the 14 people indicted, is responsible for the fatal blow.
The affair which ignited the French political class just a year ago has still not been clarified. On November 19, 2023, the “winter ball” of this village in Drôme Provençale degenerates with clashes between young people who arrived during the evening and a group of locals. In a confusing context, the first ones take out knives and seriously injure four people, including Thomas, a 16-year-old high school student who loves rugby, who dies in the ambulance.
The right and the extreme right are seizing the subject to denounce growing insecurity in the countryside, which they believe comes from sensitive suburbs. Investigators quickly made the first arrests. Others will follow in March. In total, 14 people, including three minors, are indicted for “intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide by an organized gang”.
Fourteen accused including eight in pre-trial detention
In one year, despite hearing from around a hundred witnesses and the existence of videos, investigators have still not been certain of the author of the fatal blow. All the accused, eight of whom remain in detention, deny their responsibility, even if suspicions focus on two or three of them, according to a source close to the case. “There are 14 indicted but not 14 murderers,” summarizes Me Elise Rey-Jacquot who defends two men with her colleague Bilel Hakkar. She defends the scenario of a “prom fight that escalates, not an organized, planned, racist attack.”
Thomas’ family, received this week by the two investigating judges with other victims, is ready to wait the time necessary for the investigations, according to their advice, Me Alexandre Farelly. They have “trust” in justice and demonstrate «patience». “If we want it to be rendered qualitatively, we must give it this time”explains the lawyer. “It’s an ordinary family, faced with something beyond their control. And they manage to remain dignified”he emphasizes.
“It’s always difficult, in a single scene of violence, to identify a stabbing perpetrator, in the face of people who don’t always want to talk”notes for his part Mr Denis Dreyfus. The lawyer is preparing to represent several victims, including the ball organizing committee and young people injured during the evening. Some “had not yet found the strength” to undertake the process of filing a civil suit after a “a traumatic scene”he notes.
Dramatic coincidence
Almost a year later, tragedy once again visited the rugby club where Thomas played: Nicolas Dumas, 22, was shot and killed outside an Ardèche nightclub on Halloween night. A “act of intimidation” which would have gone wrong, according to justice. “There was a certain form of acceptance and “living with” that was established” within the club, confides Tristan Tardy, one of the leaders of RC Romans-Péage. “I fear that we are being plunged back into a psychologically complicated period for many young people…”
For all the protagonists, it was also necessary to manage the media and political echo of the affair, invading the feeds of social networks, but also the streets, with rallies of the ultra-right “for Thomas” in several cities. A demonstration resembling a punitive expedition even took place in Romans-sur-Isère in the Monnaie district where some of the suspects came from.
An RN candidate elected in the legislative elections
While the drama was still on everyone’s mind, Crépol placed RN candidate Thibaut Monnier in the lead in the first round of the early legislative elections. He went on to win the constituency. Two identity associations attempted to become civil parties, without success.
To justify their action, they relied on the words of nine witnesses (out of 104) who say they heard hostile comments “to the whites” the evening of the tragedy. But others “heard rugby players wanting to “hit the ball”” after the arrival of the young people, said Mr. Romaric Chateau, the lawyer for one of the suspects, at the time. The prosecution, for lack of evidence to this effect, did not consider aggravating circumstances linked to “race, ethnicity, nation or religion”.
