Almost two years. On January 7, 2023, after writing a note expressing his desire to end his life, Lucas killed himself in Golbey (Vosges). At 13 years old.
An event which caused a national stir, especially as those close to him had denounced acts of harassment, revealing the mockery and homophobic insults of which the teenager had said he was the victim from students at his college.
National Education then requested an investigation, which has just released its conclusions. The young man was indeed the victim of harassment from other students, the ministry said on Tuesday, confirming information from Paris Match.
If the report resulting from the investigation has not been made public, “the investigation concludes that there were acts of harassment”, “both in the school establishment and on social networks”, indicates the ministry, which does not did not, however, comment on a homophobic dimension of harassment denounced by those close to him.
“The file has been submitted to the courts, because the family is appealing to the Court of Cassation, and afterwards, it will be up to the courts to do their work,” we indicate on rue de Varenne.
Four teenagers from his college, prosecuted for “harassment leading to suicide”, were convicted at first instance, without the link between the harassment and Lucas’ suicide being established. They were later acquitted on appeal. The prosecution and the boy’s family appealed to the Court of Cassation.
Our file on the Lucas affair
In its report, National Education did not seek to establish a link between the harassment suffered by Lucas and his action, considering that this was a matter of justice, the ministry said. “It all depends on who is accused, but it confirms a situation that we knew about and which had not been recognized as an offense of harassment,” reacted the family’s lawyer, Catherine Faivre.
