Four charged with murder for beating French teen to death
French prosecutors have charged four people with murder over the violent beating of a teenaged boy who died from his injuries – the second assault of a student outside of school in the past two weeks.
Two brothers and two other young men were charged with the murder of the 15-year-old identified as Shemseddine, the Evry prosecutor’s office announced Monday, after an overnight hearing.
Police said Shemseddine was attacked by three people wearing balaclavas as he left his middle school on Friday in Viry-Chatillon, a town around 20 kilometres south of Paris.
He died in hospital of his injuries later that day.
Shemseddine was attacked because of a dispute linked to the brothers’ younger sister on "subjects relating to sexuality", Evry prosecutor Gregoire Dulin said in an earlier statement.
"Fearing for her reputation and that of their family, they had ordered several boys to no longer have contact with her,” he said. The brothers then learned that “the victim boasted of being able to speak freely with their sister”.
This is the second assault of a teenager in a week, after a 13-year-old girl was left comatose after being attacked outside her school in the southern city of Montpellier on Tuesday.
Both incidents come at a time of heightened tensions around French schools, after dozens of schools received bomb threats in the past weeks.
(with AFP)
