The facts date back to September 2023, during an integration evening at Thiers high school, an elite public establishment in Marseille. In a video that made the rounds on social networks, Lucas B., then a second-year science preparatory class student, was seen chewing a mouse in his mouth before spitting it out and then putting it back in his mouth, until ‘to kill her.
“I have no memory,” he repeated during the trial on Friday, he who is now in engineering school. With 1.75 grams of alcohol per liter of exhaled air at the time of the events, the defendant nevertheless managed to get to a hospital after killing the rodent for “hygienic checks”. The prosecutor, Marie-Aude Fichet, requested 105 hours of community service against him and a fine in the event of non-compliance.
The scene was filmed by Cédric V. then the video transmitted to Léo A. who is accused of having broadcast it on Instagram as a “private story”. Both were absent from the hearing Friday. The prosecutor, who considers that they participated in this animal abuse, requested eighty hours of TIG against Cédric V. and 60 hours against Leo A. as well as fines in the event of non-compliance.
Thirteen civil party associations, including the 30 Million Friends Foundation and the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA), have requested damages of several tens of thousands of euros. They denounced the “acts of cruelty and barbarity” demonstrated by the students, whether they killed the mouse, filmed the act or broadcast the video.
“We need work in the general interest within an animal defense association to realize that all living things deserve respect and not acts of cruelty,” argued Me Xavier Bacquet, representing the 30 million friends Foundation.
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The defense lawyers argued for not recording the sentences in criminal records, under penalty of “depriving young students of any professional horizons”, according to Me Dahan, lawyer for Cédric V.
The decision will be made on January 10, 2025.
