This Monday, November 18, 2024, the Dijon criminal court delivered its deliberations in the case of the fatal fire on rue du Bourg in the Burgundian capital in January 2021. Suspected of having improperly extinguished a cigarette, Steve L. was released with the benefit of the doubt.
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On the night of January 1 to 2, 2021, a violent fire ravaged a building on rue du Bourg, in the historic city center of Dijon. Almost four years later, the only defendant in this case, tried among other things for “involuntary manslaughter”, was acquitted by the criminal court, which followed the requisitions.
Steve L., 44, was on trial because he was suspected of being at the origin of this fire which had cost the life of a father and injured 11 other people, poisoned by the smoke. Since the start of the case, the man has always denied the facts with which he was accused, namely having thrown away a poorly extinguished cigarette, which allegedly caused the disaster.
In September, during his trial, many doubts were raised by his defense, but also by the prosecution, who requested the defendant’s release. “It’s possible that Steve L. started the fire. It’s also possible that it was someone else”summarized General Counsel Marie-Pierre Bouhey.
If you don’t know, you can’t condemn
Attorney for Steve L., at trial
The defendant’s lawyer, Bruno Nicolle, relied on the words of one of the fire experts mandated by the investigation. The latter had in fact estimated that a “activation energy voluntarily provided [était] restraint” to explain the start of the fire.
Faced with the many gray areas surrounding the origin of the disaster, the lawyer told the court: “You don’t know. And if you don’t know, you can’t convict.”
► ALSO READ: A father killed in the fire but few certainties at the trial: “there are too many doubts in the case”
Steve L. risked up to five years in prison, but the courts ultimately decided to release him. “There remains doubt about guilt” of the accused, indicates the criminal court. “Although the start of the fire could be located, the rest of the circumstances, down to the timing of the fire, have not been clearly established.”
Around ten days after the fire, this man was indicted and then placed under judicial supervision until February 2024, at the end of the investigation. During this trial, where he was tried for “involuntary manslaughter”, “intentional injuries with incapacity of more than three months”, “involuntary injuries with incapacity of less than three months” and “destruction of the property of others”, all “due to the breach of an obligation of security or prudence, he faced 19 victims and 16 civil parties.
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