On November 19, 2023, the “winter ball” in Crépol, a village in Drôme Provençale, degenerated with clashes between young people who had 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 issue immediately ignites the political class, with the right and the far right seizing the subject to denounce growing insecurity in the countryside coming, according to them, from sensitive suburbs.
Investigators quickly made the first arrests. Others will follow in March. In total, fourteen people, including three minors, are indicted for “intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide by an organized gang”.
“There are fourteen indicted but not fourteen murderers”
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 fourteen indicted but not fourteen murderers”, summarizes Me Élise 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 lawyer 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,” he explains. “It’s an ordinary family, confronted with something beyond their control. They manage to remain dignified. »
“Traumatic scene”
“It is always difficult, in a single scene of violence, to identify a perpetrator of a stabbing, in the face of people who do not always want to speak”rating for its part Me 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 traumatic scene”he notes.
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.
Recovery of the ultra-right
A demonstration resembling a punitive expedition even took place in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), in the Monnaie district, where some of the suspects came from.
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 one hundred and four) who say they heard hostile comments “to the whites” the evening of the tragedy.
The prosecution, for lack of evidence to this effect, did not consider aggravating circumstances linked to “race, ethnicity, nation or religion”.
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