The investigation into the death of Jeremie Cohen, a young man of the Jewish faith hit by a tram in mid-February, does not allow, according to the Bobigny prosecutor, to establish at this stage “discriminatory motives”, contrary to the assertions of certain candidates for the presidential election which pointed to a possible anti-Semitic act.
“It does not appear from the testimonies collected so far that the attack was committed for discriminatory reasons”, declared the prosecutor of Bobigny Eric Mathais, Tuesday during a press conference.
Mr. Mathais affirmed that “no element allows to date to establish with certainty that the victim was carrying in an apparent way or not a yarmulke at the time of the scene of violence”.
A clarification that comes as this drama has reacted to the entire political class up to the Elysée.
President and candidate Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday asked for “complete clarity” on this affair which should not give rise to “political manipulation”, while other candidates had denounced a possibly anti-Semitic act.
As of Monday, his office called, at his request, the parents of Jeremie Cohen. He “asked the Keeper of the Seals to follow closely and keep the president personally informed,” said the Elysee.
On Wednesday February 16 around 8 p.m., this 31-year-old young man, suffering from an invisible disability, as his family told Radio Shalom, was crossing the railway tracks when he was hit by the tram in Bobigny (Seine- Saint-Denis) after being beaten by young people.
In cardio-respiratory arrest and victim of a head trauma, he died in hospital shortly after midnight.
Following this tragedy, a first investigation was opened for “manslaughter by driver”.
The various investigations have established that the criminal offense against the driver was “not characterized”, explained the prosecutor, specifying that this investigation had been closed on February 22.
Two weeks later, on March 10, a video filmed by a witness and showing the altercation and the shock with the tram was transmitted to the police station. In the process, an investigation was opened for “intentional violence in meetings”, said Eric Mathais, who received the family of the deceased.
– “Political manipulation” –
This same video was also transmitted a few days later to the investigators by the family, who had gone to the scene to collect testimony.
In these images, widely relayed on social networks, we see the young man receiving violent punches, surrounded by a dozen people. He falls to the ground, gets up and then runs across the road, looking disoriented, before being hit by the tram.
The investigation, now under the aegis of an investigating judge, is being carried out by investigators from the department’s judicial police.
Five days before the first round of the presidential election, this tragedy has become a political fact, widely commented on by the candidates.
The far-right candidate Eric Zemmour (Reconquête!) is the first to have publicized the case at the request of the family of the victim whose father he received on Tuesday morning.
“Did he die to run away from scum? Did he die because he was Jewish? Why is this case covered up?” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. Her rival Marine Le Pen (RN) spoke of a “criminal act” which “could be an anti-Semitic murder”.
“All the light must be shed”, on the drama, for their part asked three other presidential candidates, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), Yannick Jadot (EELV) and Valérie Pécresse (LR) who denounced a “lynching ignoble which could be anti-Semitic in nature”.
Nathalie Arthaud (LO) denounced “an instrumentalization” by Eric Zemmour.
The family’s concern is “to move forward with the judicial authority without any recovery”, reacted Monday evening on BFMTV, family lawyer Franck Serfati. “The Cohen family is not coming to cry anti-Semitism,” he added.
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