French investigating judges have added racism as an aggravating circumstance to the cases against all the suspects formally investigated over the 2023 killing of 16-year-old Thomas Perotto.
The decision, announced on Thursday, July 23rd, comes more than two and a half years after the fatal attack at the village’s winter dance in Crépol, in south-eastern France.
According to a source close to the investigation, the judges amended the charges after considering around 10 witness statements reporting remarks hostile to white people at the end of the dance, including: “We’re here to stab white people.”
Thomas Perotto, a secondary school pupil and rugby player, was fatally stabbed during the night of November 18-19, 2023, after violence erupted at the village event. Three other people were seriously wounded.
The alleged perpetrators are believed to be a group of young men from North African immigrant families from the working-class neighborhoods of nearby Romans-sur-Isère.
On June 12, prosecutors in Valence requested that eleven people stand trial over Thomas’s death.
The case quickly became a national political issue, with disagreement over how the attack should be characterised. While some commentators initially described the incident as a “brawl,” witnesses reported that members of the group from Romans-sur-Isère drew knives during the violence. Several witnesses also claimed the assailants shouted anti-white and anti-French insults during the assault.
Thursday’s judicial decision was welcomed by several figures on the French Right.
Member of the European Parliament Marion Maréchal said that, after almost three years, anti-white racism had finally been recognised as an aggravating circumstance in the case, adding that the voices of victims and witnesses had at last been heard.
Éric Zemmour likewise described the ruling as an important acknowledgment of the reality of anti-white racism affecting many French citizens. The former presidential candidate expressed hope that justice would now be delivered in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the crime.
The recognition of racism as an aggravating factor does not determine the defendants’ guilt, which remains for the court to decide. However, the decision represents a significant legal and symbolic milestone in a case that has fuelled an intense national debate over violent crime and immigration in France.
